LIBRARY    OF    THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 
PRESENTED  BY 

THE  AUTHOR 

Dknsion...uLZ  4  (^^ 
Section. .1&....^.<:> 

nD7 


Fetich  Magician. 
(With  horns,  wooden  mask,  spear,  and  sword  ;  dress  of  leaves  of  palm  and  plantain.) 


FETICHISM 
IN  WEST  AFRICA 


Forty  Tears'  Observation  of  Native  Customs  /okSxTTpfi 
and  Superstitions 

OCT  14 

BY    THE  ^^^eiCALS 

REV.  ROBERT   HAMILL   NASSAU,  M.D.,  S.T.D. 

FOR    FORTY    YEARS    A    MISSIONARY    IN    THE    GABUN    DISTRICT 
OF    KONGO-FRANCAISE 

AUTHOR    OF    "CROWNED    IN    PALM    LAND,"     "  MAWEDO " 


WITH    TWELVE    ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1907 


Copyright,  igo^. 
By  Charles  Scribner's  Sons 


Published  October,  1904 


PREFACE 

ON  the  2d  of  July,  1861, 1  sailed  from  New  York  City  on 
a  little  brig,  the  "Ocean  Eagle,"  with  destination  to 
the  island  of  Corisco,  near  the  equator,  on  the  West  Coast  of 
Africa.  My  first  introduction  to  the  natives  of  Africa  was 
a  month  later,  when  the  vessel  stopped  at  Monrovia,  the 
capital  of  the  Liberian  Republic,  to  land  a  portion  of  its 
trade  goods,  and  at  other  ports  of  Liberia,  Sinoe,  and  Cape 
Palmas;  thence  to  Corisco  on  September  12. 

Corisco  is  a  microcosm,  only  five  miles  long  by  three  miles 
wide ;  its  surface  diversified  with  every  variety  of  landscape, 
proportioned  to  its  size,  of  hill,  prairie,  stream,  and  lake.  It 
is  located  in  the  eye  of  the  elephant-head  shaped  Bay  of 
Corisco,  and  from  twelve  to  twenty  miles  distant  from  the 
mainland.  Into  the  bay  flow  two  large  rivers,  —  the  Muni 
(the  Rio  D'Angra  of  commerce)  and  the  Munda  (this  latter 
representing  the  elephant's  proboscis). 

The  island,  with  adjacent  mainland,  was  inhabited  by  the 
Benga  tribe.  It  was  the  headquarters  of  the  American  Pres- 
byterian Mission.  On  the  voyage  I  had  studied  the  Benga 
dialect  with  my  fellow-passenger,  the  senior  member  of  the 
Mission,  Rev.  James  L.  Mackey;  and  was  able,  on  my  land- 
ing, to  converse  so  well  with  the  natives  that  they  at  once 
enthusiastically  accepted  me  as  an  interested  friend.  This 
has  ever  since  been  my  status  among  all  other  tribes. 

I  lived  four  years  on  the  island,  as  preacher,  teacher, 
and  itinerant  to  the  adjacent  mainland,  south  to  the  Gabun 
River  and  its  Mpongwe  tribe,  east  up  the  Muni  and  Munda 
rivers,  and  north  to  the  Benito  River. 


vi  PREFACE 

In  my  study  of  tlie  natives'  language  my  attention  was 
drawn  closely  to  their  customs;  and  in  my  inquiry  into 
their  religion  I  at  once  saw  how  it  was  bound  up  in  these 
customs.  I  met  with  other  white  men  —  traders,  govern- 
ment officials,  and  even  some  missionaries  —  whose  interest 
in  Africa,  however  deep,  was  circumscribed  by  their  special 
work  for,  respectively,  wealth,  power,  and  Gospel  procla- 
mation. They  could  see  in  those  customs  only  "folly,"  and 
in  the  religion  only  "superstition." 

I  read  many  books  on  other  parts  of  Africa,  in  which  the 
same  customs  and  religion  prevailed.  I  did  not  think  it 
reasonable  to  dismiss  curtly  as  absurd  the  cherished  senti- 
ments of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  human  race.  I  asked 
myself:  Is  there  no  logical  ground  for  the  existence  of  these 
sentiments,  no  philosophy  behind  all  these  beliefs  ?  I  began 
to  search;  and  thenceforward  for  thirty  years,  wherever  I 
travelled,  wherever  I  was  guest  to  native  chief,  wherever  I 
lived,  I  was  always  leading  the  conversation,  in  hut  or  camp, 
back  to  a  study  of  the  native  thought. 

I  soon  found  that  I  gained  nothing  if  I  put  my  questions 
suddenly  or  without  mask.  The  natives  generally  were 
aware  that  white  men  despised  them  and  their  beliefs,  and 
they  were  slow  to  admit  me  to  their  thought  if  I  made  a 
direct  advance.  But,  by  chatting  as  a  friend,  telling  them 
the  strange  and  great  things  of  my  own  country,  and  first 
eliciting  their  trust  in  me  and  interest  in  my  stories,  they 
forgot  their  reticence,  and  responded  by  telling  me  of  their 
country.  I  listened,  not  critically,  but  apparently  as  a  be- 
liever; and  then  they  vied  with  each  other  in  telling  me  all 
they  knew  and  thought. 

That  has  been  the  history  of  a  thousand  social  chats,  —  in 
canoes  by  day,  in  camp  and  hut  by  night,  and  at  all  hours  in 
my  own  house,  whose  public  room  was  open  at  any  hour  of 
day  or  evening  for  any  visitor,   petitioner,   or  lounger,   my 


PREFACE 


\'ji 


attention  to  whose  wants  or  wishes  was  rewarded  by  sonic 
confidence  about  their  habits  or  doings. 

In  18G5  I  was  transferred  to  Benito,  where  I  remained 
until  the  close  of  1871.  Those  years  were  full  of  travels 
afoot  or  by  boat,  south  the  hundred  miles  to  Gabun,  north 
toward  the  Batanga  region,  and  east  up  the  Benito  for  a  hun- 
dred miles  as  a  pioneer,  to  the  Balengi  and  Boheba  tribes,  — 
a  distance  at  that  time  unprecedented,  considering  the  almost 
fierce  opposition  of  the  coast  people  to  any  white  man's  going 
to  the  local  sources  of  their  trade. 

After  more  than  ten  uninterrupted  years  in  Africa,  I  took 
a  furlough  of  more  than  two  years  in  the  United  States,  and 
returned  to  my  work  in  1874. 

I  responded  to  a  strong  demand  on  the  part  of  the  sup- 
porters of  Foreign  Missions  in  Africa,  that  mission  operations 
should  no  longer  be  confined  to  the  coast.  Unsuccessful 
efforts  had  been  made  to  enter  by  the  Gabun,  by  the  Muni, 
and  by  the  Benito. 

On  the  10th  of  September,  1874,  I  entered  the  Ogowe 
River,  at  Nazareth  Bay,  one  of  its  several  embouchures  into 
the  Atlantic,  near  Cape  Lopez,  a  degree  south  of  the 
equator.  But  little  was  known  of  the  Ogowe.  Du  Chaillu, 
in  his  "Equatorial  Africa  "  (1861),  barely  mentions  it,  though 
he  was  hunting  gorillas  and  journeying  in  "Ashango  Land," 
on  the  sources  of  the  Ngunye,  a  large  southern  affluent  of  the 
Ogowe. 

A  French  gunboat  a  few  years  before  had  ascended  it  for 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  to  Lembarene,  the  head  of  the 
Ogowe  Delta,  and  had  attached  it  to  France.  Two  English 
traders  and  one  German  had  built  trading-houses  at  that  one- 
hundred-and-thirty-mile  limit,  and  traversed  the  river  with 
small  steam  launches  in  their  rubber  trade.  Besides  these 
three,  I  was  the  only  other  white  resident.  They  were 
living   in  the   Galwa  tribe,    cognate   in    language    ^^ith    the 


viii  PREFACE 

Mpongwe.  I  settled  at  a  one-hundred-and-fifty-mile  limit, 
in  the  Akele  tribe  (cognate  with  the  Benga),  building  my 
house  at  a  place  called  Belambila. 

Two  years  later  I  abandoned  that  spot,  came  down  to 
Lembarene,  and  built  on  Kangwe  Hill.  There  I  learned 
the  Mpongwe  dialect.  I  remained  there  until  1880,  suc- 
cessful with  school  and  church,  and  travelling  by  boat  and 
canoe  thousands  of  miles  in  the  many  branches  of  the  Ogowe, 
through  its  Delta,  and  in  the  lake  country  of  Lakes  Onange 
and  Azyingo.  In  1880  I  took  a  second  furlough  to  the 
United  States,  remaining  eighteen  months,  and  returning 
at  the  close  of  1881. 

My  prosperous  and  comfortable  station  at  Kangwe  was 
occupied  by  a  new  man,  and  I  resumed  my  old  role  of 
pioneer.  I  travelled  up  the  Ogowe,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  beyond  Lembarene,  ascending  and  descending  the  wild 
waters  of  its  cataracts,  and  settled  at  Talaguga,  a  noted  rock 
near  which  was  subsequently  established  the  French  military 
post,  Njoli,  at  the  two-hundred-mile  limit  of  the  course  of 
the  river.  There  I  was  alone  with  Mrs.  Nassau,  my  nearest 
white  neighbors  the  two  French  officers  five  miles  up  river  at 
the  post,  and  my  successors  at  Kangwe,  seventy  miles  down 
river.  The  inhabitants  were  wild  cannibal  Fang,  just  re- 
cently emerged  from  the  interior  forest.  It  was  a  splendid 
field  for  original  investigation,  and  I  applied  myself  to  the 
Fang  dialect. 

I  remained  at  Talaguga  until  1891,  when  I  took  a  third 
furlough  to  the  United  States,  and  stayed  through  1892, 
during  which  time  the  Mission  Board  transferred  my  en- 
tire Ogowe  work,  with  its  two  stations  and  four  churches 
and  successful  schools,  to  the  French  Paris  Evangelical 
Society. 

In  March,  1893,  at  the  request  of  the  Rev.  Frank  F.  Ellin- 
wood,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  I  wrote  and  read,  before  the  American 


PREFACE  ix 

Society  of   Comparative  Religions,  a  forty-minute  essay  on 
Bantu  Theology. 

At  the  wish  of  that  Society  I  loaned  the  manuscript  to 
them,  for  their  use  in  the  Parliament  of  Religions  at  the 
Chicago  Exposition;  but  I  carried  the  original  draft  of  the 
essay  with  me  on  my  return  to  Africa  in  August,  1893, 
where  I  was  located  at  Libreville,  Gabun,  the  Mission's 
oldest  and  most  civilized  station.  There  I  found  special 
advantage  for  my  investigations.  Though  those  educated 
Mpongwes  could  tell  me  little  that  was  new  as  to  purely 
unadulterated  native  thought,  they,  better  than  an  ignorant 
tribe,  could  and  did  give  me  valuable  intelligent  replies  to 
my  inquiries  as  to  the  logical  connection  between  native 
belief  and  act,  and  the  essential  meaning  of  things  which 
I  had  seen  and  heard  elsewhere.  My  ignorant  friends  at 
other  places  had  given  me  a  mass  of  isolated  statements. 
My  Mpongwe  friends  had  studied  a  little  grammar,  and 
were  somewhat  trained  to  analyze.  They  helped  me  in  the 
collocation  of  the  statements  and  in  the  deduction  of  the 
philosophy  behind  them.  It  was  there  that  I  began  to  put 
my  conclusions  in  writing. 

In  1895  Miss  Mary  H.  Kingsley  journeyed  in  West  Africa, 
sent  on  a  special  mission  to  investigate  the  subject  of  fresh- 
water fishes.  She  also  gratified  her  own  personal  interest  in 
native  African  religious  beliefs  by  close  inquiries  all  along 
the  coast. 

During  her  stay  at  Libreville  in  the  Kongo-Frangais, 
May-September,  1895,  my  interest,  common  with  hers,  in 
the  study  of  native  African  thought  led  me  into  frequent 
and  intimate  conversations  with  her  on  that  subject.  She 
eagerly  accepted  what  information,  from  my  longer  residence 
in  Africa,  I  was  able  to  impart.  I  loaned  her  the  essay, 
with  permission  to  make  any  use  of  it  she  desired  in  her 
proposed   book,    "Travels   in  West    Africa."      When   that 


X  PREFACE 

graphic  story  of  her  African  wanderings  appeared  in  1897, 
she  made  courteous  acknowledgment  of  the  use  slie  had 
made  of  it  in  her  chapters  on  Fetich. 

On  page  395  of  her  "Travels  in  West  Africa,"  referring 
to  my  missionary  works,  and  to  some  contributions  I  had 
made  to  science,  she  wrote:  "Still  I  deeply  regret  he  has  not 
done  more  for  science  and  geography.  ...  I  beg  to  state  I 
am  not  grumbling  at  him  .  .  .  but  entirely  from  the  justifi- 
able irritation  a  student  of  fetich  feels  at  knowing  that  there 
is  but  one  copy  of  this  collection  of  materials,  and  that  this 
copy  is  in  the  form  of  a  human  being,  and  Avill  disappear 
with  him  before  it  is  half  learned  by  us,  who  cannot  do  the 
things  he  has  done." 

This  suggestion  of  ]\Iiss  Kingsley's  gave  me  no  new 
thought;  it  only  sharpened  a  desire  I  had  hopelessly  cher- 
ished for  some  years.  In  my  many  missionary  occupations 
—  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  other  duties  —  I  had 
never  found  the  strength,  when  the  special  missionary  daily 
work  was  done,  to  sit  down  and  put  into  writing  the  mass 
of  material  I  had  collected  as  to  the  meaning  and  uses  of 
fetiches.  Nor  did  I  think  it  right  for  me  to  take  time  that 
was  paid  for  by  the  church  in  which  to  compile  a  book  that 
would  be  my  own  personal  pleasure  and  property. 

Impressed  with  this  idea,  on  my  fourth  furlough  to  America 
in  1899,  I  confided  my  wish  to  a  few  personal  friends,  telling 
them  of  my  plan,  not  indeed  ever  to  give  up  my  life-work 
in  and  for  Africa,  but  to  resign  from  connection  with  the 
Board;  and,  returning  to  Africa  under  independent  employ 
and  freed  from  mission  control,  but  still  working  under  my 
Presbytery,  have  time  to  gratify  my  pen. 

One  of  these  friends  was  William  Libbey,  D.  Sc. ,  Professor 
of  Physical  Geography  and  Director  of  the  E.  M.  Museum 
of  Geology  and  Archaeology  in  Princeton  University.  With- 
out  my  knowledge  he  subsequently  mentioned  the   subject 


PREFACE  xi 

to  his  university  friend,  Rev.  A.  Woodruff  Halsc}-,  D.D., 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  Dr. 
Halsey  thought  my  wish  coukl  be  gratified  without  rny  re- 
signing from  the  Board's  service. 

In  November,  1899,  the  following  action  of  the  Board  was 
forwarded  to  me:  "November  20th,  1899.  In  view  of  the 
wide  and  varied  information  possessed  by  the  Rev.  Robert 
H.  Nassau,  D.D.,  of  the  West  Africa  Mission,  regarding  the 
customs  and  traditions  of  the  tribes  on  the  West  Coast,  and 
the  importance  of  putting  that  knowledge  into  some  perma- 
nent form,  the  Board  requested  Dr.  Nassau  to  prepare  a  vol- 
ume or  volumes  on  the  subject;  and  it  directed  the  West 
Africa  Mission  to  assign  him,  on  his  return  from  his  fur- 
lough, to  such  forms  of  missionary  work  as  will  give  him  the 
necessary  leisure  and  opportunity." 

On  my  return  to  Africa  in  1900,  I  was  located  at  Batanga, 
one  hundred  and  seventy  miles  north  of  Gabun,  and  was 
assigned  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Batanga  Church,  the  largest 
of  the  twelve  churches  of  the  Corisco  Presbytery,  with  itinera- 
tion to  and  charge  of  the  sessions  of  the  Kribi  and  Ubenji 
chnrches. 

During  intervals  of  time  in  the  discharge  of  these  pastoral 
duties  my  recreation  was  the  writing  and  sifting  of  the  mul- 
titude of  notes  I  had  collected  on  native  superstition  during 
the  previous  quarter  of  a  century.  The  people  of  Batanga, 
though  largely  emancipated  from  the  fetich  practices  of  sup- 
erstition, still  believed  in  its  witchcraft  aspect.  I  began  there 
to  arrange  the  manuscript  of  this  work.  There,  more  than 
elsewhere,  the  natives  seemed  willing  to  tell  me  tales  of  their 
folk-lore,  involving  fetich  beliefs.  From  them,  and  also  from 
Mpongwe  informants,  were  gathered  largely  the  contents  of 
Chapters  XVI  and  XVII. 

And  now,  on  this  my  fifth  furlough,  the  essay  on  Bantu 
Theology  has  grown  to  the  proportions  of  this  present  volume. 


xii  PREFACE 

The  conclusions  contained  in  all  these  chapters  are  based 
on  my  own  observations  and  investigations. 

Obligation  is  acknowledged  to  a  number  of  writers  on 
Africa  and  others,  quotations  from  whose  books  are  credited 
in  the  body  of  this  work.  I  quote  them,  not  as  informants 
of  something  I  did  not  already  know,  but  as  witnesses  to  the 
fact  of  the  universality  of  the  same  superstitious  ideas  all 
over  Africa. 

By  the  courtesy  of  the  American  Geographical  Society, 
Chapters  IV,  V,  X,  and  XI  have  appeared  in  its  Bulletin 
during  the  years  1901-1903. 

I  am  especially  obligated  to  Professor  Libbey  for  his  sym- 
pathetic encouragement  during  the  writing  of  my  manuscript, 
and  for  his  judicious  suggestions  as  to  the  final  form  I  have 
given  it. 

ROBERT  HAMILL  NASSAU 

Philadelphia,  March  24,  1904 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

Page 
Constitution  of  Native  African  Society  —  Sociology  .        1 

I.   The  Country 2 

II.   The  Family 3 

Family  Responsibility.  —  Family  Headship.  —  Mari- 
tal Relations.  —  Arrangements  for  Marriage.  —  Court- 
ship and  Wedding.  — Dissolution  of  Marriage.  — Ille- 
gitimate Marital  Relations.  —  Domestic  Life. 

III.  Succession  to  Property  and  Authority 13 

IV.  Political  Organization 13 

V.  Servants 14 

VI.  Kingship 15 

VII.  Fetich  Doctors 16 

VIII.  Hospitality 17 

IX.  Judicial  System 17 

Courts. —  Punishment. —  Blood-Atonement  and  Fines. 
—  Punishable  Acts. 

X.  Territorial  Eelations 22 

Tenure.  —  Rights  in  Movables. 

XI.    Exchange  Relations 23 

XII.  Religion 25 

'  CHAPTER  II 
The  Idea  of  God  —  Religion 26 

Theology,  Religion,  Creed,  Worship.  —  Source  of  the  Knowl- 
edge of  God ;  outside  of  us ;  comes  from  God ;  Evolution  of 
Physical  Species.  —  Materialism ;  Knowledge  of  God  not 
evolved.  —  Superstition  in  all  Religions.  —  Dominant  in  African 
Religion. — No  People  without  a  Knowledge  of  at  least  the 
Name  of  God.  —  Testimony  of  Travellers  and  Others. 


xiv  CONTENTS 

V    CHAPTER  III 

Page 
Polytheism  —  Idolatry 42 

Religion  and  Civilization.  —  Worship  of  Natural  Objects.  — 
Polytheism.  — Idolatry.  —  Worship  of  Ancestors.  —  Fetichism. 

CHAPTER   IV 

Spiritual  Beings  in  African  Religion 50 

I.   Origin 60 

Coterminous  with  the  Creator.  —  Created.  —  Spirits  of 
'  Deceased  Human  Beings;  in  Unity,  Duality,  Trinity,  or 
Quadruplicity. 

II.   Number 55 

III.  Locality 58 

IV.  Characteristics 62 

CHAPTER  V 

Spiritual  Beings  in  Africa  —  Their  Classes  and  Func- 
tions   64 

I.   Classes  and  Functions 64 

Inina.  —  Ibambo.  —  Ombwiri.  —  Nkinda.  —  Mondi. 

II.   Special  Manifestations 70 

Human  Soul  in  a  Lower  Animal ;  the  Leopard  Fiend.  — 
Uvengwa,  Ghost.  —  Family  Guardian-Spirit. 

V  CHAPTER  VI 

Fetichism  — Its  Philosophy  —  A  Physical  Salvation  — 
Charms  and  Amulets  ' ' 75 

Monotheism.  —  Polytheism.  —  Animism.  —  Fetichism. 

The  Salvation  Sought:  its  Kind,  Physical;  its  Source, 
Spirits;  its  Reason,  Fear. 

The  Means  used:  Prayer,  Sacrifices,  Charms ;  Vocal,  Ritual, 
Material,  Fetiches. 

Articles  used  in  the  Fetich.  —  Mode  of  Preparation :  A  Fit- 
ness in  the  Quality  of  the  Object  for  the  End  desired;  Effi- 
ciency depends  on  the  Localized  Spirit;  Misuse  of  the  Word 
"  Medicine  "  ;  Native  "  Doctors  " ;  Connection  of  Fetich  with 
Witchcraft. 


CONTENTS  XV 

CHAPTER   YII 

Page 
The  Fetich  —  A  Worship .      90 

I.    Sacrifice  and  Offerings 91 

Small    Votive    Gifts.  —  Consecrated   Plants ;  Idols  and 
Gifts  of  Food.  —  Blood  Sacrifices.  —  Human  Sacrifices. 

II.   Prayer 97 

III.   The  Use  of  Charms  or  "  Fetiches  " 99 

CHAPTER   Vni 

The  Fetich  —  Witchcraft  — A  White  Art  —  Sorcery  .  100 
A  passively  Defensive  Art.  —  Professedly  of  the  Nature  of  a 
Medicine.  —  Distinction  between  a  Fetich  Doctor  and  a  Christian 
Physician.  —  ^Manner  of  Performance  of  the  White  Art.  —  The 
Medicinal  Herbs  used  sometimes  Valuable.  —  Strength  of  Native 
Faith  in  the  System. 

CHAPTER   IX 

The  Fetich — Witchcraft — A  Black  Art — Demonology    116 

Distinction  as  to  the  Object  aimed  at  in  the  White  Art  and  in 
the  Black  Art.  — Black  Art  actively  Offensive.  — ^The  Black  Art 
distinctively  "Witchcraft."  — Witchcraft  Executions;  claimed 
to  be  Judicial  Acts.  —  Hoodoo  Worship.  —  Christian  Faith  and 
Fetich  Faith  Compared.  —  Deception  by  Fetich  Magicians.  — 
Clairvoyance.  —  Demoniacal  Possession. 

CHAPTER   X 

Fetichism  —  A  Government 138 

Egbo,  Ukuku,  Yasi,  and  other  Societies.  —  Their  Power  either 
to  protect  or  oppress.  —  Contest  with  Ukuku  at  Benita,  and  with 
Yasi  on  the  Ogowe. 

^    CHAPTER   XI 

The  Fetich — Its  Relation  to  the  Family 156 

The  Family  the  Unit  in  the  African  Community.  —  Respect 
for  the  Aged.  —  Worship  of  Ancestors. —Family  Fetiches; 
Yaka,  Ekongi,  Mbati. 

6 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XII 

Page 
The  Fetich  —  Its  Relations  to  Daily  Work  and  Occu- 
pations AND  TO  THE  NeEDS  OF  LiFK 172 

Hunting.  —  Journeying.  —  Warring.  —  Trading ;  Okundu  and 
Mbumbu.  —  Sickness.  —  Loving.  —  Fishing.  —  Planting. 

CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Fetich  —  Superstition  in  Customs 191 

Rules  of  Pregnancy.  —  Omens  on  Journeys.  — Leopard  Fiends. 

—  Luck.  —  Twins.  — Customs  of  Speech.  —  Oaths. — Totem  Wor- 

—  ship.  —  Taboo ;  Orunda.  —  Baptism.  —  Spitting.  —  Notice  of 
Children. 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Fetich  —  Its   Relation   to    the   Future  Life  —  Cere- 
monies AT  Deaths  and  Funerals 215 

Sickness,  Death,  Burial,  Modes  of  Burial.  —  Mourning,  Treat- 
ment of  Widows. —  Witchcraft  Investigations.  —  Places  of  Burial. 

—  Cannibalism.  —  Family  Quarrel  as  to  Precedence  in  the  Bury- 
ing. —  Custom  of  "  Lifting  Up ' '  of  Mourners.  —  Ukuku  Dance  for 
Amusement.  —  Destination  of  the  Dead.  —  Transmigration. 

CHAPTER  XV 

Fetichism  —  Some  of  its  Practical  Effects       ....    239 

Depopulation.  —  Cannibalism.  —  Secret  Societies  (Ukuku, 
Yasi,  Mwetyi,  Bweti,  Inda,  Njembe).  —  Poisoning  for  Revenge. 
— Distrust.  —  Jugglery.  — Treatment  of  Lunatics. — The  Ameri- 
can Negro  Hoodoo.  —  Folk-Lore. 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Tales  op  Fetich  Based  on  Fact 277 

I.   A  Witch  Sweetheart 278 

II.  A  Jealous  Wife 281 

III.   Witchcraft  Mothers 284 

IV.   The  Wizard  House-Breaker 287 

V.   The  Wizard  Murderer 289 

VI.  The  Wizard  and  his  Invisible  Dog 293 


CONTENTS  xvii 

Page 

VII.   Spirit-Dancing 295 

VIII.  Asiki,  or  the  Little  Beings       299 

IX.   Okove 302 

X.   The  Family  Idols  (Okasi,  Barbarity,  The  Right  of 

Sanctuary) 308 

XI.   Unago  and  Ekela  (A  Proverb) 318 

XII.   Malanda  —  An  Initiation  into  a  Family  Guardian- 
Spirit  Company 320 

XIII.  Three-Things  Came  Back  too  Late 326 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Fetich  in  Folk-Lore 330 

I.   Queen  Ngwe-nkonde  and  her  Manja 332 

II.   The  Beautiful  Daughter 337 

III.   The  Husband  that  Came  from  an  Animal     .     .    .  346 

TV.   The  Fairy  Wife 351 

V.   The  Thieves  and  their  Enchanted  House  ....  358 

VI.   Banga-of-the-five-faces 367 

VII.   The  Two  Brothers 372 

VIII.  J6ki  and  his  Ozazi 378 


Glossary 387 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIOI^S 

Fetich  Magician Frontispiece 

Facing  Page 

Native  King  in  the  Niger  Delta 16 

English  Trading-House.  —  Gabun 24 

Fetich  Doctor 86 

Elephants'  Tusks    and   Palm-leaf   Thatch.      Two  Hundred 

Miles  up  the  Ogowe  River 148 

War  Canoe.  —  Calabar,  "West  Africa 174 

Natives  Trading   in  Plantains   and   Bamboo  Building  Ma- 
terials. —  Gabun 182 

Travelling  by  Canoe. — Ogowe  River 198 

A  Civilized  Family.  —  Gabun 236 

Njembe.      Female  Secret  Society.  —  Mpongwe,  Gabun     .     .  254 

Ekope  of  the  Ivanga  Dance.  ^ — Gabun 296 

A  Street  in  Libreville,  Gabun 300 

Map  of  the  West  African  Coast 1 


FETICHISM   IN  WEST  AFRICA 


CHAPTER  I 

CONSTITUTION   OF  NATIVE  AFRICAN   SOCIETY  — 
SOCIOLOGY 

THAT  stream  of  the  Negro  race  which  is  known  ethno- 
logically  as  "  Bantu,"  occupies  all  of  the  southern 
portion  of  the  African  continent  below  the  fourth  degree  of 
north  latitude.  It  is  divided  into  a  multitude  of  tribes,  eacli 
with  its  own  peculiar  dialect.  All  tliese  dialects  are  cognate 
in  their  grammar.  Some  of  them  vary  only  slightly  in  their 
vocabulary.  In  others  the  vocabulary  is  so  distinctly  differ- 
ent that  it  is  not  understood  by  tribes  only  one  hundred  miles 
apart,  while  that  of  others  a  thousand  miles  away  may  be 
intelligible. 

In  their  migrations  the  tribes  have  been  like  a  river,  with 
its  windings,  currents  swift  or  slow  ;  there  have  been  even,  in 
places,  back  currents ;  and  elsewhere  quiet,  almost  stagnant 
pools.  But  they  all  —  from  the  Divala  at  Kamerun  on  the 
West  Coast  across  to  the  Kiswahile  at  Zanzibar  on  the  East, 
and  from  Buganda  by  the  Victoria  Nyanza  at  the  north  down 
to  Zulu  in  the  south  at  the  Cape  —  have  a  uniformity  in  lan- 
guage, tribal  organization,  family  customs,  judicial  rules  and 
regulations,  marriage  ceremonies,  funeral  rites,  and  religious 
beliefs  and  practice.  Dissimilarities  have  crept  in  with  mix- 
ture among  themselves  by  intermarriage,  the  example  of 
foreigners,  with  some  forms  of  foreign  civilization  and  educa- 
tion, degradation  by  foreign  vice,  elevation  by  Christianity, 
and  compulsion  by  foreign  governments. 


2  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

As  a  description  of  Bantu  sociology,  I  give  the  following 
outline  which  was  offered  some  years  ago,  in  reply  to  inquiries 
sent  to  members  of  the  Gabun  and  Corisco  Mission  living  at 
Batanga,  by  the  German  Government,  in  its  laudable  effort  to 
adapt,  as  far  as  consistent  with  justice  and  humanity,  its 
Kamerun  territorial  government  to  the  then  existing  tribal 
regulations  and  customs  of  the  tribes  living  in  the  Batanga 
region.  This  information  was  obtained  by  various  persons 
from  several  sources,  but  especially  from  prominent  native 
chiefs,  all  of  them  men  of  intelligence. 

In  their  general  features  these  statements  were  largely  true 
also  for  all  the  other  tribes  in  the  Equatorial  Coast  region,  and 
for  most  of  the  interior  Bantu  tribes  now  pressing  down  to 
the  Coast.  They  were  more  distinctly  descriptive  of  Batanga 
and  the  entire  interior  at  the  time  of  their  formulation.  But 
in  the  ten  years  that  have  since  passed,  a  stranger  would  find 
that  some  of  them  are  no  longer  exact.  Foieign  authority 
has  removed  or  changed  or  sapped  the  foundations  of  many 
native  customs  and  regulations,  while  it  has  not  fully  brought 
in  the  civilization  of  Christianity.  The  result  in  some  places, 
in  this  period  of  transition,  has  been  almost  anarchy,  —  making 
a  despotism,  as  under  Belgian  misrule  in  the  so-called  Kongo 
"  Free  "  State  ;  or  commercial  ruin,  as  under  French  monopoly 
in  their  Kongo-FraiiQais  ;  and  general  confusion,  under  Ger- 
man hands,  due  to  the  arbitrary  acts  of  local  officials  and  their 
brutal  black  soldiery. 

I.  The  Country. 

The  coast  between  5°  and  4°  N.  Lat.  is  called  "  Kamerun." 
This  is  not  a  native  word :  it  was  formerly  spelled  by  ships' 
captains  in  their  trade  "  Cameroons."  Its  origin  is  uncer- 
tain. It  is  thought  that  it  came  from  the  name  of  the  Portu- 
guese explorer  Diego  Cam.  The  tribes  in  that  region  are  the 
Divala,  Isubu,  Balimba,  and  other  lesser  ones. 

The  coast  from  4°  to  3°  N.  Lat.  has  also  a  foreign  name, 
"  Batanga."     I  do  not  know  its  origin. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY  3 

The  coast  from  3°  to  2"  N.  Lat.  is  called,  by  both  natives 
and  foreigners,  "  Benita"  ;  at  1'  N.,  by  foreigners,  "  Corisco," 
and  by  natives,  "Benga,"  The  name  "  Corisco  "  was  given 
by  Spaniards  to  an  island  in  the  Bay  of  Benga  because  of  the 
brilliant  coruscations  of  lightning  so  persistent  in  that  locality. 
The  Benga  dialect  is  taken  as  the  type  of  all  the  many  dia- 
lects used  from  Corisco  north  to  Benita,  Bata,  Batanga,  and 
Kamerun. 

From  1°  N.  to  3°  S.  is  known  as  the  "  Gabun  country," 
with  the  Mpongwe  dialect,  typical  of  its  many  congeners,  the 
Orungu,  Nkami  (miscalled  "  Camma"),  Galwa,  and  others. 

From  3°  S.  to  the  Kongo  River,  at  6°  S.,  the  Loango  tribe 
and  dialect  called  "  Fyat "  are  typical ;  and  the  Kongo  River 
represents  still  another  current  of  tribe  and  dialect. 

In  the  interior,  subtending  the  entire  coast-line  as  above 
mentioned,  are  the  several  clans  of  the  great  Fang  tribe,  mak- 
ing a  fifth  distinctly  different  type,  known  by  the  names 
"Osheba,"  "Bulu,"  "  Mabeya,"  and  others.  The  name 
"  Fang "  is  spelled  variously :  by  the  traveller  Du  Chaillu, 
"  Fail " ;  by  the  French  traveller.  Count  de  Brazza,  "  Pa- 
houin  "  ;  by  their  Benga  neighbors,  "  Pangwe  "  ;  and  by  the 
INIpongwe,  "  Mpanwe."  These  tribes  all  have  traditions  of 
their  having  come  from  the  far  Northeast. 

Before  foreign  slave-trade  was  introduced,  and  subsequently 
the  ivory,  rubber,  palm-oil,  and  mahogany  trades,  the  occupa- 
tions of  the  natives  were  hunting,  fishing,  and  agriculture. 
They  subsisted  on  wild  meats,  fish,  forest  fruits  and  nuts,  and 
the  cultivated  plantains,  cassava,  maize,  ground-nuts,  yams, 
eddoes,  sweet  potatoes,  and  a  few  other  vegetables. 

II.   The  Faivetly. 

The  family  is  the  unit  in  native  sociology.  There  is  the 
narrow  circle  of  relationship  expressed  by  the  word  "ijawe," 
plural  "  majawe  "  (a  derivative  of  the  verb  "  jaka  "  =  to  beget), 
which  includes  those  of  the  immediate  family,  both  on  the 
father's   as  well  as  on  the  mother's   side  (i.  e.,    blood-rela- 


4  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

tives).  The  wider  circle  expressed  by  the  word  "ikaka" 
(pi.  "makaka ")  includes  those  who  are  blood-relatives,  to- 
gether with  those  united  to  them  by  marriage. 

In  giving  illustrative  native  words  I  shall  use  the  Benga 
dialect  as  typical.  All  the  tribes  have  words  indicating  the 
relationships  of  father,  mother,  brother,  sister.  A  nephew, 
while  calling  his  own  father  "paia,"  calls  an  uncle  who  is 
older  than  himself  "  paia-utodu" ;  one  younger  than  himself 
he  calls  "paia-ndembS."  His  own  mother  he  calls  "ina," 
and  his  aunts  "  ina-utodu  "  and  "  ina-ndgmbg, "  respectively, 
for  one  who  is  older  or  younger  than  himself. 

A  cousin  is  called  "mwana-paia-utodu,"  or  "-ndSmbS," 
as  the  case  may  be,  according  to  age.  These  same  designa- 
tions are  used  for  both  the  father's  and  the  mother's  side. 
A  cousin's  consanguinity  is  considered  almost  the  same  as 
that  of  brother  or  sister.  They  cannot  marry.  Indeed,  all 
lines  of  consanguinity  are  carried  farther,  in  prohibition  of 
marriage,  than  in  civilized  countries. 

1.  Family  Responsibility.  Each  family  is  held  by  the 
community  responsible  for  the  misdeeds  of  its  members. 
However  unworthy  a  man  may  be,  his  "people"  are  to 
stand  by  him,  defend  him,  and  even  claim  as  right  his  acts, 
however  unjust.  He  may  demand  their  help,  however  guilty 
he  may  be.  Even  if  his  offence  be  so  great  that  his  own 
people  have  to  acknowledge  his  guilt,  they  cannot  abjure 
their  responsibility.  Even  if  he  be  worthy  of  death,  and 
a  ransom  is  called  for,  they  must  pay  it:  not  only  his  rich 
relatives,  but  all  who  are  at  all  able  must  help. 

There  is  a  narrower  family  relationship,  that  of  the  house- 
hold, or  "diya"  (the  hearth,  or  fireplace  ;  derivative  of "  the 
verb  "diyaka  "  =  to  live).  There  are  a  great  many  of  these. 
Their  habitations  are  built  in  one  street,  long  or  short,  accord- 
ing to  the  size  of  the  man's  family. 

In  polygamy  each  wife  has  a  separate  house,  or  at  least  a 
separate  room.  Her  children's  home  is  in  that  house.  Each 
woman  rules  her  own  house  and  children. 

One  of  these  women  is  called  the  "head-wife  "  ("konde"  — 


CONSTITUTION    OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY  5 

queen).  Usually  she  is  the  first  wife.  But  the  man  is  at 
liberty  to  displace  her  and  put  a  younger  one  in  her  place. 

The  position  of  head-wife  carries  with  it  no  special  privi- 
leges except  that  she  superintends;  but  she  is  not  herself 
excused  from  work.  In  the  community  she  is  given  more 
respect  if  the  husband  happens  to  be  among  the  "headmen" 
or  chiefs. 

Each  wife  is  supplied  by  the  husband,  but  does  not  per- 
sonally own  her  own  house,  kitchen  utensils,  and  garden  tools. 
She  makes  her  own  garden  or  "plantation"  ("mwanga"). 

There  is  no  community  in  ownership  of  a  plantation. 
Each  one  chooses  a  spot  for  himself.  Nor  is  there  land 
tenure.  Any  man  can  go  to  any  place  not  already  occu- 
pied, and  choose  a  site  on  which  to  build,  or  to  make  a 
garden;  and  he  keeps  it  as  long  as  he  or  some  member  of 
his  family  occupies  it. 

2.  Family  Headship.  It  descends  to  a  son;  if  there  be 
none,  to  a  brother;  or,  if  he  be  dead,  to  tliat  brother's  son; 
in  default  of  these,  to  a  sister's  son.  This  headship  carries 
with  it,  for  a  man,  such  authority  that,  should  he  kill  his 
wife,  he  may  not  be  killed ;  though  her  relatives,  if  they  be 
influential,  may  demand  some  restitution. 

If  an  ordinary  man  kills  another  man,  he  may  himself  be 
killed.  For  a  debt  he  may  give  away  a  daughter  or  wife, 
but  he  may  not  give  away  a  son  or  a  brother.  A  father  rules 
all  his  children,  male  and  female,  until  his  death. 

If  adult  members  of  a  family  are  dissatisfied  with  family 
arrangements,  they  can  remove  and  build  elsewhere;  but  they 
cannot  thereby  entirely  separate  themselves  from  rule  by,  and 
responsibility  to  and  for  the  family. 

A  troublesome  man  cannot  be  expelled  from  the  family 
village.  A  woman  can  be,  but  only  by  her  husband,  for 
such  offences  as  stealing,  adultery,  quarrelling ;  in  which  case 
the  dowry  money  paid  by  him  to  her  relatives  must  be  re- 
turned to  him,   or  another  woman  given  in  her  place. 

3.  Marital  Relations.  Marriages  are  made  not  only  be- 
tween members  of  the  same  tribe  but  between  different  tribes. 


6  FETICHISM    IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Formerly  it  was  not  considered  proper  that  a  man  of  a  coast 
tribe  should  marry  a  woman  from  an  interior  tribe.  The 
coast  tribes  regarded  themselves  as  more  enlightened  than 
those  of  the  interior,  and  were  disposed  to  look  down  upon 
them.  But  now  men  marry  women  not  only  of  their  own 
tribe  but  of  all  inferior  tribes. 

Polygamy  is  common,  almost  universal.  A  man's  addition 
to  the  number  of  his  wives  is  limited  only  by  his  ability  to 
pay  their  dowry  price. 

He  may  cohabit  with  a  woman  without  paying  dowry  for 
her;  but  their  relation  is  not  regarded  as  a  marriage  ("diba"), 
and  this  woman  is  disrespected  as  a  harlot  ("evove"). 

Tliere  are  few  men  with  only  one  wife.  In  some  cases 
their  monogamy  is  their  voluntary  choice;  in  most  cases 
(where  there  is  not  Christian  principle)  it  is  due  to  poverty. 
A  polygamist  arranges  his  marital  duties  to  his  several  wives 
according  to  his  choice ;  but  the  division  having  been  made, 
each  wife  jealously  guards  her  own  claim  on  his  attentions. 
A  disregard  of  them  leads  to   many  a  family  quarrel.^ 

If  a  man  die,  his  brothers  may  marry  any  or  all  of  the 
widows ;  or,  if  there  be  no  brothers,  a  son  inherits,  and  may 
marry  any  or  all  of  the  widows  except  his  own  mother. 

It  is  preferred  that  widows  shall  be  retained  in  the  family 
circle  because  of  tlie  dowry  money  that  was  paid  for  them, 
which  is  considered  as  a  permanent  investment. 

Ante-ceremonial  sexual  trials  (the  ancient  German  "bun- 
dling") are  not  recognized  as  according  to  rule;  but  the 
custom  is  very  common.  If  not  followed  by  regular  mar- 
riage ceremony,  it  is  judged  as  adultery. 

While  a  man  may  go  to  any  tribe  to  seek  a  wife,  he  does 
not  settle  in  the  woman's  tribe;  she  comes  to  him,  and  enters 
into  his  family. 

4.  Arrangements  for  Marriage.  On  entering  into  marriage 
a  man  depends  on  only  the  male  members  of  his  family  to 
assist  him.  If  the  woman  is  of  adult  age,  he  is  first  to  try 
to   obtain   her   consent.     But   that  is  not  final;    it  may  be 

1  Gen.  XXX.  15-16. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY  7 

either  overridden  or  compelled  by  her  father.  The  fathers 
of  the  two  parties  are  the  ultimate  judges;  the  marriage 
cannot  take  place  without  their  consent,  after  the  prelimi- 
nary wooing.  The  final  compact  is  by  dowry  money,  the 
most  of  which  must  be  paid  in  advance.  It  is  the  custom 
which  has  come  down  from  old  time.  It  is  now  slightly 
changing  under  education,  enlightenment,  and  foreign  law. 
The  amount  of  the  dowry  is  not  prescribed  by  any  law. 
Custom  alters  the  amount,  according  to  the  social  status  of 
the  two  families  and  the  pecuniary  ability  of  the  bridegroom. 

The  highest  price  is  paid  for  a  virgin;  the  next,  for  a 
woman  who  has  been  put  away  by  some  other  man ;  the  lowest 
price  for  widows.  It  is  paid  in  instalments,  but  is  supposed 
to  be  completed  in  one  or  two  years  after  the  marriage. 

But  the  purchase  of  the  woman  by  dowry  does  not  extin- 
guish all  claim  on  her  by  her  family.  If  she  is  maltreated, 
she  may  be  taken  back  by  them,  in  which  case  the  man's 
dowry  money  is  to  be  returned  to  him.  Not  only  the 
woman's  father,  but  her  other  relatives,  have  a  claim  to  a 
share  in  the  dowry  paid  for  her.  Her  brothers,  sisters,  and 
cousins  may  ask  gifts  from  the  would-be  husband. 

If  a  husband  die,  the  widow  becomes  the  j^roperty  of  his 
family;  she  does  not  inherit,  by  right,  any  of  his  goods 
because  she  herself,  as  a  widow,  is  property.  Sometimes 
she  is  given  something,  but  only  as  a  favor. 

If  she  runs  away  or  escapes,  her  father  or  her  family  must 
return  either  her  or  the  dowry  paid  for  her. 

On  the  death  of  a  woman  after  her  marriage,  a  part  of  the 
money  received  for  her  is  returned  to  the  husband  as  compen- 
sation for  his  loss  on  his  investment.  If  she  has  borne  no 
children,  nothing  is  given  or  restored  to  the  husband. 

If  a  woman  deserts  her  husband,  her  family  is  required  to 
pay  back  the  dowry.  If  the  man  himself  sends  her  away, 
the  dowry  may  be  repaid  on  his  demand  and  after  a  public 
discussion. 

There  is  no  escape  from  marriage  for  a  woman  during  her 
life  except  by  repayment  of  the  money  received  for  her. 


8  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Two  men  may  exchange  wives  thus :  each  puts  away  his 
wife,  sending  her  back  to  her  people  and  receiving  in  return 
the  money  paid  for  her.  With  this  money  in  hand  each 
buys  again  the  wife  the  other  has  put  away ;  and  all  parties 
are  satisfied. 

A  father  can  force  his  daughter  to  marry  against  her  will; 
but  such  marriages  are  troublesome,  and  generally  end  in  the 
man  putting  the  woman  away. 

A  daughter  may  be  betrothed  by  her  parents  at  any  time, 
even  at  birth.  The  marriage  formerly  did  not  take  place 
until  she  was  a  woman  grown  of  twenty  years;  now  they 
are  married  at  fifteen  or  sixteen,  or  earlier. 

Marriage  within  any  degree  of  consanguinity  is  forbidden. 
Marriage  of  cousins  is  impossible.  Disparity  of  age  is  no 
hindrance  to  marriage :  an  old  man  may  take  a  young  virgin, 
and  a  young  man  may  take  an  old  woman. 

There  are  no  bars  of  caste  nor  rank,  except  the  social 
eminence  derived  from  wealth  or  free  birth. 

Only  women  are  barred  from  marrying  an  inferior.  That 
inferiority  is  not  a  personal  one.  No  personal  worth  can 
make  a  man  of  an  inferior  tribe  equal  to  the  meanest  member 
of  a  superior  tribe. 

All  coast  tribes  reckon  themselves  superior  to  any  interior 
tribe;  and,  of  the  coast  tribes,  a  superiority  is  claimed  for 
those  who  have  the  largest  foreign  commerce  and  the  greatest 
number  of  white  residents. 

A  man  may  marry  any  woman  of  any  inferior  tribe,  the 
idea  being  that  he  thus  elevates  her;  but  it  is  almost  un- 
heard of  that  a  woman  shall  marry  beneath  her. 

As  a  result  of  this  iron  rule,  women  of  the  Mpongwe  and 
a  few  other  small  "superior"  coast  tribes  being  barred  from 
many  men  of  their  own  tribe  by  lines  of  consanguinity,  and 
unable  to  marry  beneath  themselves,  expect  to  and  do  make 
their  marriage  alliances  with  the  white  traders  and  foreign 
government  officials.  Their  civilization  has  made  them 
attractive,  and  they  are  sought  for  by  white  men  from  far 
distant  points. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY  9 

Younger  sons  and  daughters  must  not  be  married  before 
the  ohler  ones.^ 

5.  Courtship  and  Wedding.  The  routine  varies  greatly 
according  to  tribe;  and  in  any  tribe,  according  to  the  man's 
self-respect  and  regard  for  conventionalities.  A  proper  out- 
line is :  First,  the  man  goes  to  the  father  empty-handed  to  ask 
his  consent.  The  second  visit  he  goes  with  gifts,  and  the 
father  calls  in  the  other  members  of  the  family  to  witness  the 
gifts.  On  the  third  visit  he  goes  with  liquor  (formerly 
the  native  palm  wine,  now  the  foreign  trade  gin  or  rum),  and 
pays  an  instalment  on  the  dowry;  on  the  fourth  visit  with 
his  parents,  and  gives  presents  to  the  woman  herself.  On  a 
fifth  occasion  the  mother  of  the  woman  makes  a  feast  for  the 
mother  and  friends  of  the  groom.  At  this  feast  the  host  and 
hostess  do  not  eat,  but  they  join  in  the  drinking.  Finally, 
the  man  goes  with  gifts  and  takes  the  woman.  Her  father 
makes  return  gifts  as  a  farewell  to  his  daughter. 

On  her  arrival  at  the  man's  village  they  are  met  with 
rejoicing,  and  a  dance  called  "nkanja";  but  there  is  no 
further  ceremony,  and  she  is  his  wife. 

For  three  months  she  should  not  be  required  to  do  any 
hard  work,  the  man  providing  her  with  food  and  dress. 
Then  she  will  begin  the  usual  woman's  work,  in  the  making 
of  a  garden  and  carrying  of  burdens. 

Weddings  may  be  made  in  any  season  of  the  year. 
Formerly  the  dry  season,  or  the  latter  part  of  the  rainy,  was 
preferred  because  of  the  plentifulness  of  fish  at  these  periods, 
and  the  weather  being  better  for  outdoor  sports  and  plays. 

The  man  is  expected  to  visit  his  wife's  family  often,  and  to 
eat  with  them.  Her  mother  feasts  him,  and  he  calls  her 
parents  to  eat  at  his  house. 

6.  Dissolution  of  Marriage.  By  death  of  the  husband. 
Formerly,  in  many  tribes  one  or  more  of  the  widows  were 
put  to  death,  either  that  the  dead  might  not  be  without  com- 
panionship in  the  spirit  world,  or  as  a  punishment  for  not 
having  cared  better  for  him  in  the  preservation  of  his  life. 

i  Gen.  xxix.  26. 


10  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Formerly  the  women  mourned  for  six  months;  now  the 
mourning  (i.e.,  the  public  wailing)  is  reduced  to  one  month. 
But  signs  of  mourning  are  retained  for  many  months  in  dark, 
old,  or  scanty  dress,  and  an  absence  of  ornament. 

The  mourning  of  both  men  and  women  begins  before  the 
sick  have  actually  died.  The  men  cease  after  the  burial, 
but  the  women  continue. 

All  the  dead  man's  property  goes  to  his  male  relatives. 
On  the  death  of  a  wife  the  husband  is  expected  to  make  a 
gift  to  pacify  her  relatives.  Formerly  the  corpse  was  not 
allowed  to  be  buried  until  this  gift  was  made.  The  demand 
was  made  by  the  father,  saying,  "  Our  child  died  in  your 
hands;  give  us  !"  Now  they  make  a  more  quiet  request, 
and  wait  a  week  before  doing  so.  Something  must  be  given, 
even  if  the  husband  had  already  paid  her  dowry  in  full. 

Marriage  can  be  dissolved  by  divorce  at  almost  any  time, 
and  for  almost  any  reason,  by  the  man,  —  by  a  woman  rarely. 
The  usual  reasons  for  divorce  are  unfaithfulness,  quarrelling, 
disobedience,  and  sometimes  chronic  sickness.  There  are 
many  other  more  private  reasons.  In  being  thus  put  away 
the  woman  has  no  property  rights;  she  is  given  nothing 
more  than  what  the  man  may  allow  as  a  favor.  If  the 
woman  has  children,  she  has  no  claim  on  them ;  they  belong 
to  the  father.  But  if  she  has  daughters  who  are  married,  she 
can  ask  for  part  of  the  money  which  the  husband  received 
for  them.  The  man  and  the  divorced  woman  are  then 
each  free  to  marry  any  other  parties. 

7.  Illegitimate  Marital  Relations.  These  are  very  com- 
mon, but  they  are  not  sanctioned  as  proper.  The  husband 
demands  a  fine  for  his  wife's  infidelity  from  the  co-respond- 
ent. Cohabitation  with  the  expected  husband  previous  to 
the  marriage  ceremonies  is  common ;  but  it  is  not  sanctioned, 
and  therefore  is  secret. 

The  husband  of  a  woman  who  is  mother  of  a  child  begotten 
by  another  man  takes  it  as  his  own.  If  it  be  a  girl,  he  (and 
not  the  real  father)  is  the  person  who  gives  her  in  marriage 
and  retains  the  dowry. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY         11 

8.  Domestic  Life.  No  special  feast  is  made  for  the  birth 
of  either  a  son  or  a  daughter,  but  there  is  rejoicing.  During 
the  woman's  pregnancy  both  she  and  her  husband  have  to 
observe  a  variety  of  prohibitions  as  to  what  tliey  may  eat  or 
what  they  may  do.  They  cohabit  up  to  the  time  of  the 
child's  birth;  but  after  that  not  for  a  long  period,  formerly 
three  years.  Now  it  is  reduced  to  one  and  a  half  years,  or 
less.  This  custom  is  one  of  the  reasons  assigned  by  men  for 
the  alleged  necessity  of  a  plurality  of  wives. 

During  the  confinement  and  for  a  short  time  after  the 
birth,  the  wife  remains  in  the  husband's  house,  and  is  then 
taken  by  her  parents  to  their  house. 

Deformed  and  defective  children  are  kept  with  kindness 
as  others ;  but  monstrosities  are  destroyed.  Formerly  in 
all  tribes  twins  were  regarded  as  monstrosities  and  were 
therefore  killed,  — -  still  the  custom  in  some  tribes.  In  the 
more  civilized  tribes  they  are  now  valued,  but  special  fetich 
ceremonies  for  them  are  considered  necessary. 

In  the  former  destruction  of  twins  there  were  tribes  that 
killed  only  one  of  them.  If  they  were  male  and  female,  the 
father  would  wish  to  save  the  boy  and  the  mother  the  girl ; 
but  the  father  ruled.  A  motherless  new-born  infant  is  not 
deserted;  it  is  suckled  by  some  other  woman. 

A  portion  of  the  wearing  apparel  and  other  goods  are  placed 
in  the  coffin  with  the  corpse.  The  greater  part  of  a  man's 
goods  are  taken  by  his  male  relatives.  Formerly  nothing  was 
given  to  his  widow;  now  she  receives  a  small  part.  And 
the  paternal  relatives  of  the  dead  man  give  something  to  his 
maternal  relatives. 

The  corpse  is  buried  in  various  ways,  —  on  an  elevated 
scaffold,  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  or  in  a  shallow  grave, 
rarely  cremated.  Formerly  the  burial  could  be  delayed  by  a 
claim  for  settlement  of  a  debt,  but  this  does  not  now  occur. 

No  coast  tribe  eats  human  flesh.  The  Fang  and  other  in- 
terior tribes  eat  any  corpse,  regardless  of  the  cause  of  death. 
Families  hesitate  to  eat  their  own  dead,  but  they  sell  or 
exchange  them  for  the  dead  of  other  families. 


12  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

The  name  given  a  child  is  according  to  family  wish.  There 
is  no  law.  Parents  like  to  have  their  own  names  trans- 
mitted; but  all  sorts  of  reasons  prevail  for  giving  common 
names,  or  for  making  a  new  one,  or  for  selecting  the  name 
of  a  great  person  or  of  some  natural  object.  A  child  born 
at  midday  may  be  called  "  Joba  "  (sun),  or,  at  the  full  moon, 
"  Ngande  "  (moon),  A  mother  who  had  borne  nine  children, 
all  of  whom  had  died,  on  bearing  a  tenth,  and  hopeless  of  its 
surviving,  named  it  "  Botombaka  "  (passing  away). 

Circumcision  is  practised  universally  by  all  these  tribes. 
An  uncircumcised  native  is  not  considered  to  be  a  man  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  word,  —  fit  for  fighting,  working,  mar- 
rying, and  inheriting.  He  is  regarded  as  nothing  by  both 
men  and  women,  is  slandered,  abused,  insulted,  ostracized, 
and  not  allowed  to  marry. 

The  operation  is  not  performed  in  infancy,  but  is  delayed 
till  the  tenth  year,  or  even  later.  The  native  doctor  holds 
cayenne  pepper  in  his  mouth,  and,  on  completing  the  opera- 
tion, spits  the  pepper  upon  the  wound.  Then  seizing  a 
sword,  he  brandishes  it  with  a  shout  as  a  signal  to  the  spectators 
that  the  act  is  completed.  Then  the  crowd  of  men  and  women 
join  in  singing  and  dancing,  and  compliment  the  lad  on  being 
now  "a  real  man." 

As  natives  have  no  records  of  births,  they  cannot  exactly 
tell  the  ages  of  their  children,  or  the  time  when  a  youth  is  fit 
to  marry  or  assume  other  manly  rights ;  but  by  the  eighteenth 
or  nineteenth  j^ear  he  is  regarded  with  the  respect  due  a  man. 
He  can  marry  even  as  early  as  fifteen  or  sixteen. 

There  are  no  tests  to  which  he  is  subjected  as  proof  of  his 
manhood. 

A  woman  may  speak  in  a  court  of  trial,  for  defence  of 
herself  or  friends.  She  may  also  be  summoned  as  a  witness, 
but  she  has  no  political  rights. 

Aged  persons  are  not  put  to  death,  to  escape  the  care  of 
them ;  they  are  reasonably  well  provided  for. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY        13 

III.   Succession  to  Property  and  Authority. 

Only  men  inherit.  The  children  of  sisters  do  not  inherit 
unless  all  the  children  of  the  brothers  are  dead. 

Slaves  do  not  inherit. 

"Chieftains"  (those  chosen  to  rule)  and  "kings"  (those 
chosen  to  the  office)  inherit  more  than  their  brothers,  even 
though  the  ruling  one  be  the  younger. 

A  woman  does  not  inherit  at  any  time  or  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, nor  hold  property  in  her  own  right,  even  if  she 
has  produced  it  by  her  own  labor. 

There  is  no  supremacy  in  regard  to  age  in  the  division 
of  property.  The  things  to  be  inherited  are  women  (the 
widows),  goods,  house,  and  slaves.  An  equal  division,  as 
far  as  it  is  possible,   is  made  of  all  these. 

The  dead  man's  debts  are  to  be  paid  by  the  heirs  out  of 
their  inheritance,  each  one  paying  his  part.  There  is  no 
written  will,  but  it  is  common  for  a  man  to  announce  his 
intention  as  to  the  division  while  still  living. 

IV.   Political  Organization. 

The  coast  tribes  and  some  of  the  interior  have  so-called 
"kings,"  who  are  chosen  by  their  tribe  to  that  office. 

There  are  family  cliques  for  the  accomplishment  of  a 
desired  end,  but  these  are  overruled  by  the  tribal  king. 

There  are  headmen  in  each  village  with  local  authority; 
but  they  too  are  subject  to  the  king,  they  having  authority 
only  in  their  own  village. 

Quarrels  and  discussions,  called  "  palavers, "  are  very  com- 
mon. (A  palaver  need  not  necessarily  be  a  quarrel ;  the  word 
is  derived  from  a  Portuguese  verb  =  "to  speak."  It  comes 
from  the  old  days  of  slavery;  it  was  the  "council"  held 
between  native  chiefs  and  white  slave  traders,  in  the  pur- 
chase of  a  cargo  of  slaves.) 

The  headmen  settle  disputes  about  marriage,  property 
rights,  murders,  war,  thefts,  and  so  forth.     Their  decisions 


14  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

may  be  appealed  from  to  a  chief,  or  carried  further  to  the 
king,  whose  decision  is  final.  Any  one,  young  and  old, 
male  and  female,  may  be  present  during  a  discussion. 
Usually  only  chosen  persons  do  the  speaking. 

Instead  of  a  question  being  referred  to  a  chief  or  king,  a 
committee  of  wise  men  is  sometimes  chosen  for  the  occasion. 
Public  assemblages  are  gathered  by  messengers  sent  out  to 
summon  the  people.  The  meeting  is  presided  over  by  the 
king. 

V.   Servants. 

The  domestic  servants  are  slaves.  Prisoners  of  war  are 
also  made  to  do  service ;  but  on  the  making  of  peace  male 
prisoners  are  returned  to  their  tribe ;  the  female  prisoners  are 
retained  and  married.  Slaves  were  bought  from  interior 
tribes.  If  a  male  child  was  born  to  slave  parents,  he  was 
considered  free  and  could  marry  into  the  tribe.  If  the  slave 
mother  died,  the  widower  could  marry  into  the  tribe.  If  the 
slave  father  died,  the  widow  was  married  by  some  man  of  the 
family  who  owned  him.  There  are  no  slaves  bought  or 
sold  now,  but  there  is  a  system  of  "pawns,"  —  children  or 
women  given  as  a  pledge  for  a  debt  and  never  redeemed. 
Their  position  is  inferior,  and  they  are  servants,  but  not 
slaves. 

Also,  if  a  prominent  person  (c.  ^.,  a  headman)  is  killed 
in  war,  the  people  who  killed  hira  are  to  give  a  daughter  to 
his  family,  who  may  marry  her  to  any  one  they  please. 

A  pawn  may  be  sent  away  by  the  holder  to  some  other 
place,  but  he  cannot  be  sold  or  killed ;  but  the  holder  may 
beat  him  if  he  be  obstreperous. 

During  slavery  days  anything  earned  by  a  slave  was  taken 
to  his  master,  who  would  allow  him  a  share;  also,  at  other 
times,  the  master  would  give  the  slave  gifts.  The  slave 
could  do  paid  labor  for  foreigners  or  other  strangers,  and  was 
not  necessarily  punished  if  he  did  not  share  his  wages  with 
the  master,  but  he  would  at  least  be  rebuked  for  the  omis- 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY        15 

sioii.  Women  ruled  their  female  slaves.  For  a  slave's  minor 
offences,  such  as  stealing,  the  master  was  held  responsible; 
for  grave  offences,  such  as  murder,  the  slave  himself  was 
killed. 

Certain  liberty  was  allowed  a  slave;  he  conld  attend  the 
village  or  tribal  palavers  and  take  part  in  the  discussion. 
If  a  slave  was  unjustly  treated  by  some  other  person,  his 
owner  could  call  a  council  and  have  the  matter  talked  over, 
and  the  slave  could  be  allowed  to  plead  his  case. 

A  slave  man  could  hold  property  of  his  own;  and  if  he 
were  a  worthy,  sensible  person,  he  could  inherit. 

In  a  slave's  marriage  of  a  woman  the  custom  of  gifts, 
feasts,  and  so  forth  was  the  same  as  for  a  free  man. 

If  ill  treated,  he  could  run  away  to  another  tribe  (not  to 
any  one  of  his  own  tribe),  and  would  there  be  harbored,  but 
still  as  a  slave,  and  would  not  be  given  up  to  his  former 
owner.  A  slave  could  become  free  only  by  his  master  set- 
ting him  free;  he  could  not  redeem  himself. 

VI.   Kingship. 

Kingship  has  connected  with  it  the  great  honor  that  a 
son  may  inherit  it  if  he  is  the  right  kind  of  man ;  but  it  is 
possible  for  him  to  be  set  aside  and  another  chosen.  A  son 
may  lose  his  place  by  foolishness  and  incompetency. 

Attempts  to  rule  independently  of  the  king  are  sometimes 
made  by  cliques  composed  of  three  or  four  young  persons  of 
the  same  age,  who  make  laws  or  customs  peculiar  to  them- 
selves. There  is  no  national  recognition  of  them,  nor  are 
they  given  any  special  privilege. 

Kings  have  very  little  power  over  the  fines  or  property  of 
others.  These  are  held,  each  man  for  himself;  nor  have 
they  the  right  of  taxation ;  but  they  have  power  to  declare 
war,  acting  in  concert  with  their  people  in  declaring  it  and 
waging  it.  They  administer  justice  as  magistrates,  decide 
palavers  according  to  the  unwritten  law  of  custom,  summon 
offenders,  and  inflict  the  punishment  due. 


16  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Their  dwellings  differ  but  little  from  those  of  other  persons 
of  like  wealth  and  personal  ability. 

When  a  palaver  is  called,  the  king  sits  as  ruler  of  the 
meeting  and  does  most  of  the  talking.  He  provides  food 
for  those  who  come  from  a  distance. 

A  king  may  be  blamed  if  a  war  he  has  declared  ends  dis- 
astrously. While  a  king's  son  expects  to  inherit  the  title 
and  power,  there  is  no  invariable  rule  of  succession;  he  can- 
not take  the  position  by  force.  He  must  be  chosen;  but  the 
choice  is  limited  to  the  members  of  one  family,  in  which  it 
is  hereditary. 

If  the  chosen  person  be  a  minor,  another  is  selected  (but  of 
the  same  family)  to  act  as  regent.  The  "incompetency" 
which  could  bar  a  man  from  kingship,  even  though  in  regu- 
lar succession,  would  be  lack  of  stamina  in  his  character. 
The  king-elect  must  make  a  feast,  to  which  he  is  to  call  all 
the  people  to  eat,  drink,  and  play  for  twenty  days. 

There  are  no  higher  state  forms  among  the  coast  tribes,  as 
in  civilized  lands ;  no  union  among  tribes ;  no  feudal  power 
nor  vassals ;  no  monarchy,  nothing  absolute ;  no  taxation,  no 
monopoly.  Some  of  the  interior  tribes  formerly  had  trib- 
utes and  kingly  monopoly  of  certain  products. 

VII.    Fetich  Doctors. 

They  still  exist,  but  it  can  scarcely  be  said  that  they  are  a 
class.  They  have  no  organization ;  they  have  honor  only  in 
their  own  districts,  unless  they  be  called  specially  to  minister 
in  another  place.  They  have  power  to  condemn  to  death  on 
charge  of  causing  sickness.  In  their  ceremonies  they  send 
the  people  to  sing,  dance,  play,  and  beat  drums,  and  they 
spot  their  bodies  with  their  "medicines."  Any  one  may 
choose  the  profession  for  himself;  fetich  doctors  demand 
large  pay  for  their  services. 


Native  King  ix  the  Niger  Delta. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY        17 

VIII.   Hospitality. 

A  stranger  is  entertained  hospitably.  He  is  provided  with 
a  house  and  food  for  two  weeks,  or  as  much  longer  as  he  may 
wish  to  stay.  On  departing  he  is  given  a  present.  His  host 
and  the  village  headman  are  bound  to  protect  him  from  any 
prosecution  while  he  is  their  guest,  even  if  he  be  really 
guilty. 

IX.   Judicial  System. 

Such  a  system  does  not  exist.  Whatever  rules  there  are 
are  handed  down  as  tradition,  by  word  of  mouth.  There 
are  persons  who  are  familiar  with  these  old  sayings,  prov- 
erbs, examples,  and  customs,  and  these  are  asked  to  be 
present  in  the  trial  of  disputed  matters. 

1.  Courts.  In  the  righting  of  any  wrong  the  head  of  the 
family  is  to  take  the  first  step.  If  the  offenders  fail  to  satisfy 
him,  he  appeals  to  the  king,  who  then  calls  all  the  people,  re- 
hearses the  matter  to  them,  and  the  majority  of  their  votes  is 
accepted  by  the  king  as  the  decision.  The  offenders  will  not 
dare  to  resist. 

There  is  no  regular  court-house.  In  almost  all  villages 
there  is  a  public  shed,  or  "palaver-house,"  which  is  the 
town-hall,  or  public  reception  room.  But  a  council  may  be 
held  anywhere,  —  in  the  king's  house,  in  the  house  of  one  of 
the  litigants,  on  the  beach,  or  under  a  large  shady  tree. 

The  council  is  held  at  any  time  of  day,  —  not  at  night. 
There  are  no  regular  advocates;  any  litigant  may  state  his 
own  case,  or  have  any  one  else  do  it  for  him.  There  are  no 
fees,  except  to  the  king  for  his  summoning  of  the  case. 
There  is  sometimes  betting  on  the  result;  though  no  stakes 
are  deposited,  the  bets  are  paid.  There  is  not  much  form 
of  court  procedure.  All  the  people  of  a  village  or  district, 
even  women  and  children,  according  to  the  importance  of 
the  case,  assemble.  While  women  are  generally  not  al- 
lowed to  argue  in  the   case,   yet   their   shouts    of   approval 

2 


18  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

or  protest  have   influence   in    the    decision,    and   encourage 
the  parties  by  outspoken  sympathy. 

If  an  accused  person  does  not  come  voluntarily  to  court, 
the  king's  servants  are  sent  to  bring  him.  In  the  court  the 
accused  does  not  need  to  have  some  one  plead  for  him,  he 
speaks  for  himself.  Accusers  speak  first,  then  the  accused ; 
the  accusers  reply,  the  accused  answers;  and  the  king  and 
his  aged  counsellors  decide.  Witnesses  are  called  from  other 
places.  As  there  is  no  writing  among  untaught  tribes,  the 
depositions  are  by  word  of  mouth. 

Formerly  the  accused  was  subjected  to  the  poison  ordeal ; 
indeed,  the  accuser  also  had  to  take  the  poison  draught  as  a 
proof  of  his  sincerity,  and  that  his  charge  was  not  a  libel. 
But  this  custom  is  no  longer  practised  on  the  coast. 

There  is  no  substitution  of  any  kind,  except  in  rare  cases. 
A  guilty  person  must  bear  his  own  punishment  in  some  way. 

Oaths  are  common,  and  are  used  freely  and  voluntarily  in 
the  course  of  the  discussion.  A  man  who  utters  false  testi- 
mony or  bears  false  witness  is  expected  to  be  thrust  out  of 
the  assembly,  but  it  is  not  always  done. 

When  an  oath  is  required,  there  is  no  escape  from  it;  he 
who  refuses  to  swear  is  considered  guilty.  Sometimes,  under 
bravado,  he  will  demand  to  be  given  "  mbwaye "  (the 
poison  test),  hoping  that  his  demand  will  not  be  complied 
with.  When  the  test  is  produced,  he  may  seek  to  escape  it 
by  refusing  that  particular  kind  and  demanding  another  not 
readily  obtainable.  But  his  attempt  at  evasion  is  generally 
regarded  as  a  sign  of  guilt. 

In  court,  parties  are  not  obstinate  in  their  opinion;  they 
ask  for  and  take  advice  from  others. 

2.  Punishment.  If  it  be  capital,  the  accusers  are  the 
executioners.  Death  is  by  various  modes,  —  formerly  very 
cruel,  e.  g.,  burning,  roasting,  torturing,  amputation  by  piece- 
meal ;  now  it  is  generally  by  gun,  dagger,  club,  or  drowning. 
For  a  debt  that  a  creditor  is  seeking  to  recover,  securities 
may  be  accepted.  But  if  the  accused  then  runs  away,  the 
person  giving  the  security  is  tried  and  punished. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY         19 

A  creditor  does  not  usually  attach  the  property  of  the 
debtor,  though  often,  in  the  interior  tribes,  a  woman  is 
seized  as  hostage.  If  a  long  time  elapses  in  deciding  the 
matter,  the  debtor  may  be  held  as  prisoner  until  the  debt  is 
paid.  Formerly  it  was  very  common  for  the  debtor's  family's 
property,  or  even  their  persons,  to  be  seized  as  security; 
and  it  still  is  common  for  a  person  of  the  debtor's  tribe  to  be 
caught  by  the  creditor's  tribe,  and  detained  until  he  is  re- 
deemed by  his  own  people. 

The  king  of  the  prisoner's  tribe  is  called  to  help  release 
him.  If  the  king  himself  become  a  captive,  his  people  com- 
bine to  collect  goods  for  the  payment,  and  meanwhile  give 
other  persons  in  his  place  to  secure  his  immediate  release. 
Sometimes  differences  are  settled  in  a  fight,  by  a  hand-to- 
hand  encounter. 

3.  Blood  Atonement  and  Fines.  Revenge,  especially  for 
bloodshed,  is  everywhere  practised.  It  is  a  duty  belong- 
ing first  to  the  "ijawe"  (blood-relative),  next  to  the 
"ikaka"  (family),  next  to  the  "etomba"  (tribe). 

The  murdered  man's  own  family  take  the  lead,  —  in  case  of 
a  wife,  her  husband  and  his  family,  and  the  wife's  family; 
sometimes  the  whole  "ikaka";  finally,  the  "etomba." 

A  master  seeks  revenge  for  his  slave  or  other  servants. 
Formerly  it  was  indifferent  who  was  killed  in  revenge,  so 
that  it  be  some  member  of  the  murderer's  tribe.  Naturally 
that  tribe  sought  to  retaliate,  and  the  feud  was  carried  back 
and  forth,  and  would  be  finally  settled  only  when  an  equal 
number  had  been  killed  on  each  side,  —  a  person  for  a 
person :  a  woman  for  a  man,  or  vice  versa ;  a  child  for  a 
man  or  woman,  or  vice  versa.  A  woman  (wife  of  the  man 
killed)  does  not  take  the  lead  in  the  revenge;  his  family 
must  take  the  lead,  her  family  must  join  in.  They  would 
be  despised  and  cursed  if  they  did  not  do  so.  The  woman 
herself  does  not  take  part  in  this  killing  for  revenge. 

The  avenger  of  blood  may  not  demit  his  duty  until  some 
member  of  the  other  tribe  has  been  killed.  If  a  thief  has 
been  killed  for  his  tlieft,  blood  mav  be  taken  for  his  death. 


20  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

But  when  that  one  other  life  is  taken,  the  matter  is  con- 
sidered settled;  it  is  not  carried  on  as  a  feud. 

For  a  life  taken  by  accident,  a  life  is  not  required;  but 
some  penalty  must  be  paid,  e.  g.,  a  woman  may  be  given  as  a 
wife.  But,  practically,  in  former  times  it  was  not  admitted 
that  "accidents"  occurred;  any  misfortune  was  adjudged 
a  fault. 

Formerly  even  the  plea  of  self-defence  was  not  accepted. 
Even  idiotic  or  otherwise  irresponsible  persons  were  held 
responsible,  though  sometimes  they  were  ransomed  by  pay- 
ment of  a  woman  and  goods. 

At  present  blood  is  not  always  required,  but  formerly 
no  money  would  have  been  accepted  as  a  sufficient  penalty. 
A  man  would  have  been  despised  for  accepting  it.  There 
was  no  way  of  settlement  except  by  bloodshed,  —  a  life  for  a 
life,  —  except  that,  for  the  life  of  a  woman,  a  woman  and 
goods  of  a  certain  amount  and  kind  might  be  accepted. 
When  a  woman  was  thus  given  for  a  murdered  one,  the  living 
woman  must  not  be  old,  but  one  capable  of  bearing  children. 
Among  the  acceptable  goods  were  sheep,  goats,  and  pottery. 

A  wound  or  a  broken  limb  is  paid  for  in  goods.  These 
must  come  not  solely  from  him  who  caused  the  injury ;  his 
family,  as  fellow  offenders,  must  assist  in  paying. 

The  man  who  obtains  the  woman  who  is  given  for  a  woman 
killed,  retains  with  her  also  part  of  the  goods  given  with  her, 
and  part  he  shares  with  the  family  of  the  murdered  one.  If, 
in  giving  a  woman  for  a  murdered  one,  the  offending  family 
is  unable  to  furnish  also  the  required  goods,  they  must  sell 
another  of  their  women  in  order  to  obtain  those  goods. 
The  point  is  that  they  must  give  a  woman  and  goods ;  two 
women  will  not  suffice. 

The  ceremonies  in  settlement  of  a  blood-feud  are  as  fol- 
lows :  The  woman  is  paid  in  presence  of  both  parties  ;  then 
the  goods  are  given,  counted,  and  received.  Then  both  parties 
retire.  In  the  course  of  a  week  the  parties  receiving  the 
woman  and  the  goods  call  the  other  party,  and  produce  a  goat 
and  kill  it  in  their  presence.     It  is  divided  equally,  and  given 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE    JSOCIETY         21 

half  to  each  party ;  and  the  feud  is  settled,  as  by  a  covenant 
of  peace,  over  the  divided  goat  (Gen.  xv.  10).  The  woman 
thus  given  in  settlement  will  be  married  to  some  one. 

The  customs  in  her  marriage  are  the  same  as  for  any  other 
woman.  Subsequently  those  who  paid  her  as  a  fine  may 
come  and  ask  a  portion  of  goods  for  her  as  a  wife.  Not  that 
they  have  any  claim  on  her  as  their  daughter ;  but  the  man 
who  has  married  her  will  give  the  goods  they  ask  for,  under 
the  common  belief  that,  unless  he  does  so,  the  children  born 
by  her  will  die  early,  or  at  least  will  not  come  to  years  of 
maturity. 

All  misdeeds  and  offences,  even  capital  ones,  may  be  con- 
doned by  a  fine  in  goods,  excepting  only  the  murder  of  a  man. 
This  murderer  must  forfeit  his  life.  These  fines  are  paid  with 
foreign  goods,  each  offence  having  its  own  regulation  price  as 
a  punishment. 

In  general,  the  punishment  for  an  injury  is  the  same, 
whether  the  injured  one  be  rich  or  poor.  A  man's  "  majawe  " 
are  held  responsible  if  he  refuses  to  make  restitution.  If  they 
also  refuse,  the  offended  party  await  a  suitable  opportunity, 
and  then  seize  some  one  and  hold  him  as  a  hostage  until  he  is 
redeemed,  for  the  price  of  the  original  offence,  every  mite  of 
it  being  then  exacted. 

There  is  no  right  of  asylum  to  any  offender  within  the  limit 
of  his  own  tribe.  In  case  of  a  man  visiting,  for  any  reason 
whatever,  in  the  limits  of  another  tribe  one  of  whose  members 
is  a  fugitive  from  justice  into  the  limits  of  the  visitor's  tribe, 
this  visitor  may  be  seized,  and  his  countrymen  asked  to  ex- 
tradite the  criminal  staying  in  their  midst. 

Corporal  punishment  is  administered  publicly,  the  towns- 
people being  called  to  witness  it,  so  as  to  operate  on  their 
fears  and  cause  them  to  dread  the  doing  of  deeds  which  may 
bring  on  them  such  a  penalty. 

4.  Punishable  Acts.  A  person  is  punishable  only  for  an 
injury  committed  intentionally,  not  by  accident. 

For  damages  by  cattle,  the  animal  may  be  killed  if  the 
damage  be  considerable.     The  injured  party  may  keep  and 


22  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

eat  the  carcass,  and  the  owner  cannot  recover  for  it.  In  this 
respect  animals  are  treated  as  human  beings,  their  lives  being 
forfeit;  and  the  owner's  majawe  are  held  responsible  along 
with  him. 

Punishments  are  rated  according  to  the  degree  of  the  crime, 
in  the  order  theft,  adultery,  rape,  murder.  Insults  are  not 
punishable  by  law  ;  the  insulted  insults  in  return.  If  a  fight 
results,  and  wounds  are  made  during  the  fight,  no  fine  is 
required. 

Kidnapping,  incest,  and  abortion  are  not  known. 

Under  the  slight  duty  owed  to  kings,  treason  can  scarcely 
be  said  to  exist.  Its  equivalent,  the  betrayal  of  tribal  interests, 
is  publicly  rebuked,  and  a  curse  laid  on  the  offender.  If  he 
be  a  servant,  he  is  beaten  and  sent  away. 

The  disturber  of  the  peace  of  a  wedding  is  expected  to 
express  regret,  but  no  calamity  will  follow  because  of  the 
disturbance.     The  offence  is  not  common. 

X.   Territorial  Relations. 

The  tribes  have  fixed  settlements  wherever  foreign  govern- 
ments have  not  taken  possession.  Each  man  may  choose  for 
a  garden  a  place  that  has  not  been  already  occupied.  The 
land  is  common  property  for  the  tribe.  But  each  ijawe  may 
choose  a  separate  place  for  itself. 

No  man  of  a  tribe  has  any  claim  on  the  soil  other  than  is 
common  to  any  other  man  of  that  tribe.  He  has,  however,  a 
claim  greater  than  any  stranger. 

1.  Tenure.  Land  is  held  as  common  property;  it  is  not 
bought  or  sold  to  a  fellow-tribeman.  It  may  be  bought  from 
the  confines  of  another  tribe,  and  it  is  sold  to  foreigners. 
A  hunter  is  free  to  go  anywhere,  even  into  the  territory  of 
an  adjacent  tribe.  If  he  kills  game  there,  he  does  not  have 
to  divide.  Bee  trees  and  honey  are  free  to  any  one.  The  sea 
is  free  for  fishing  only  to  the  coast  tribes. 

Every  woman  has  a  separate  garden ;  even  tlie  wives  of 
polygamists  do  not  have  gardens  in  common. 

Soil  is  free.     A  family,  however,  may  settle  in  a  limited 


CONSTITUTION    OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY         23 

district,  and  claim  it  as  theirs  as  long  as  they  live  there;  or, 
leaving  it  temporarily,  if  they  return  after  a  reasonable  time, 
they  may  still  claim  it.  They  temporarily  mark  their  places 
by  trees  or  stones,  as  boundary  lines.  But  there  is  nothing 
permanent.  They  prove  their  right  to  it  by  residing  on  it 
or  making  a  garden  from  time  to  time.  But  their  claim  may 
be  lost  if  the  entire  family  leave  it  and  go  elsewhere.  Such 
a  place  being  vacated,  and  some  one  else  wishing  to  occupy 
it,  permission  may  be  granted  on  formal  application  to  the 
king.  But  if  an  occupant  has  deserted  a  place,  and  no  one 
else  has  applied  for  it,  he  can  resume  it  as  his  even  after 
the  lapse  of  years. 

Dwellers  on  any  ground  have  right  to  all  the  trees  of 
fruitage  on  it,  e.  g.,  palm-nuts,  and  other  natural  wild  edible 
nuts.  Wells  are  never  dug.  People  depend  on  springs  and 
streams.  Springs  are  free,  even  though  they  be  on  land 
claimed  by  others. 

A  man  assists  his  wife  in  the  clearing  of  the  forest  for  a 
garden  plot ;  but  she  and  her  servants  attend  to  the  planting, 
weeding,  and  other  working  of  the  garden  itself. 

2.  Rights  in  Movables.  The  tenant  dweller  on  any  par- 
ticular lot  of  ground  owns  everything  on  it,  except  the  ground 
itself.  If  a  foreigner  buy  a  piece  of  ground,  he  may  or  may 
not  buy  the  houses,  and  so  forth,  according  to  agreement. 
The  movables  on  any  ground  are  houses,  trees,  and  any 
vegetables  planted. 

XI.   Exchange  Relations. 

There  is  no  coin  or  metal  currency,  except  among  the 
coast  tribes,  where  foreign  governments  have  introduced  it. 
Foreign  trade-goods  are  everywhere  the  medium  of  purchase 
and  exchange.  But  there  is  a  sort  of  currency,  in  the  shape 
of  iron  spear-heads  and  other  forms  resembling  miniature 
hatchets,  a  certain  number  of  which  are  given  by  interior 
tribes  in  the  purchase  of  a  wife.  They  are  used  only  for  this 
purpose,  and  are  exchanged  by  the  parties  themselves  for  the 
foreign  goods  required  in  the  do^vry. 


24  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

They  are  manufactured  by  any  village  blacksmith  from 
imported  iron.  They  are  not  received  or  recognized  by  white 
traders. 

Formerly  cowry  shells  were  used,  even  by  foreign  traders, 
as  a  currency;  and  they  are  still  so  used  in  the  Sudan.  But 
in  all  coast  tribes  purchase  and  sale  are  effected  by  foreign- 
made  calico  prints,  pottery,  cutlery,  guns,  powder,  rum,  and 
a  great  variety  of  other  goods. 

The  natural  products  of  the  country  —  ivory,  rubber, 
palm-oil,  dyewoods  —  and  many  other  native  unmanufac- 
tured articles  are  exchanged  for  these  goods.  The  natural 
products  belong  to  the  men.  If  a  woman  should  find  ivory, 
she  cannot  sell  it ;  it  belongs  to  her  husband  to  barter  it. 

Contracts  are  confirmed  in  various  ways  in  different  tribes. 
A  common  mode  is  to  eat  and  drink  together,  as  a  sign  that 
the  bargain  is  closed ;  and  it  will  not  be  broken.  A  contract 
cannot  be  broken  after  the  price  is  agreed  upon,  even  if  only 
a  part  of  the  price  is  paid ;  the  remainder  is  to  be  paid  in 
instalments. 

If  one  overreaches  another  in  a  trade,  he  must  take  back 
the  imperfect  article  or  add  to  it.  This  is  true,  according  to 
native  law,  among  themselves.  Any  amount  of  overreaching 
and  deception  is  practised  toward  foreigners  in  a  trade,  or  to 
members  of  another  tribe ;  and  many  foreigners  are  just  as 
guilty  in  their  dealings  with  the  natives. 

Loans  of  trade-goods  are  constantly  made,  but  the  taking 
of  interest  therefor  is  not  known.  If  a  borrowed  article,  such 
as  a  canoe,  is  broken  or  lost,  a  new  canoe  must  be  given  in 
its  place.  If  the  canoe  is  only  injured  and  had  been  in  want 
of  repair,  the  borrower,  on  returning  it,  must  repair  it  and 
also  pay  some  goods.  One  going  as  surety  for  goods  is  held 
responsible. 

Pawning  of  goods  is  commonly  practised  everywhere. 

People  are  generous  in  making  gifts  to  fi'iends,  or  donations 
to  the  needy ;  but  if  a  man  who  has  been  helped  in  time  of 
distress  subsequently  increases  in  wealth,  the  one  who  helped 
him  may  demand  a  return  of  the  original  gift. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   NATIVE   SOCIETY        25 

XII.   Religion. 

Religion  is  intimately  mixed  with  every  one  of  these  afore- 
mentioned sociological  aspects  of  family,  rights  of  property, 
authority,  tribal  organization,  judicial  trials,  punishments, 
intertribal  relations,  and  commerce. 

Mr.  R.  E.  Dennett,  residing  in  Loango,  has  made  a  careful 
and  philosophic  investigation  into  the  religious  ideas  of  the  Ba- 
Vili  or  Fyat  nation  and  adjacent  tribes  bordering  on  the  Kongo. 
The  result  of  his  research  shows  that  the  native  tribal  govern- 
ment and  religious  and  social  life  are  inseparably  united.  He 
claims  to  have  discovered  a  complex  system  of  "  numbers  " 
and  "  powers  "  showing  the  Loango  jjeople  to  be  more  highly 
organized  politically  than  are  the  equatorial  tribes,  and  re- 
vealing a  very  curious  co-relation  of  those  "  numbers," 
governing  the  physical,  rational,  and  moral  natures,  with  con- 
science and  with  God. 

Some  traces  of  the  "  numbers  with  meanings  "  are  found  in 
Yoruba,  where,  as  described  by  Mr.  Dennett,  the  division  of 
the  months  of  the  year,  the  names  of  lower  animals  typical  of 
the  senses,  and  the  powers  of  earth  that  speak  to  us  represent 
religious  ideas  and  relations.  They  err,  therefore,  who,  as  su- 
perficial observers,  would  brush  away  all  these  native  views 
as  mere  superstition.  They  are  more  than  mere  superstition ; 
though  indeed  very  superstitious,  they  point  to  God. 

The  particular  exponent  of  religious  worship,  the  fetich, 
governs  the  arrangements  of  all  such  relations.  It  will  be 
discussed  as  to  its  origin  and  the  details  of  its  use  in  tlie 
subsequent  chapters. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    IDEA    OF    GOD  — RELIGION 

MISSIONARY  PAUL  of  Tarsus,  in  the  polite  exordium 
of  his  great  address  to  the  Athenian  philosophers  on 
Mars  Hill,  courteously  tells  them  that  he  believes  them  to  be 
a  very  "religious"  people, — indeed,  too  much  so  in  their 
broad-church  willingness  to  give  room  for  an  altar  to  the 
worship  of  any  new  immanence  of  God  ;  and  then,  with  equal 
courtesy,  he  tells  them  that,  with  all  their  civilization,  with 
all  their  eminence  in  art  and  philosophy,  they  were  igno- 
rant of  the  true  character  of  a  greater  than  any  deity  in  their 
pantheon. 

Modern  missionaries,  also,  in  studying  the  beliefs  and  forms 
of  worship  of  the  heathen  nations  among  whom  they  dwell, 
while  they  may  be  shocked  at  the  innuoralities,  cruelties,  or 
absurdities  of  the  special  cult  they  are  investigating,  have  to 
acknowledge  that  its  followers,  in  their  practice  of  it,  exhibit 
a  devotion,  a  persistence,  and  a  faithfulness  worthy  of  Chris- 
tian martyrs.  They  are  very  "religious."  Verily,  if  the 
obtaining  of  heaven  and  final  salvation  rested  only  on  sincerity 
of  belief  and  consistency  of  practice,  the  multitudinous  fol- 
lowers of  the  so-called  false  religions  would  have  an  assurance 
greater  than  that  of  many  professors  of  what  is  known  as 
Christianity,  and  much  of  the  occupation  of  the  Christian 
missionary  would  be  gone. 

I  say  much  ;  but  not  all,  by  any  means.  For  the  feeling 
with  which  I  was  impressed  on  my  very  first  contact  with  the 
miseries  of  the  sociology  of  heathenism,  entirely  aside  from 
its  theology  and  any  question  of  salvation  in  a  future  life,  has 
steadily  deepened  into  the  conviction  that,  even  if  I  were  not  a 


THE   IDEA   OF   GOD  27 

Christian,  I  still  ought  to,  and  would,  do  and  bear  and  suffer 
whatever  God  has  called  or  allowed  me  to  suffer  or  bear 
or  do  since  1861  in  my  proclamation  of  His  gospel,  simply 
for  the  sake  of  the  elevation  of  heathen  during  their  present 
earthly  life  from  the  wrongs  sanctioned  by  or  growing  out 
of  their  religion.  Distinctly  is  it  true  that  '-Godliness  is 
profitable  unto  all  things,"  not  only  for  the  life  "which  is  to 
come,"  but  also  for  "  the  life  that  now  is."  Those  in  Christian 
lands  who  have  no  sympathy  for,  or  who  refuse  to  tiike  any 
interest  in,  what  are  known  as  "  Foreign  Missions,"  err  egre- 
giously  in  their  failure  to  recognize  the  indisputable  fact 
that  they  themselves  are  debtors  for  their  possession  of  pro- 
tected life,  true  liberty,  and  unoppressed  pursuit  of  personal 
happiness,  not  to  civilization  as  such,  but  to  the  form  of  reli- 
gious belief  called  Christianity,  which  made  that  civilization 
possible.  And  by  just  so  much  as  divine  law  has  ordained 
-us  each  our  brother's  keeper,  we  are  bound  to  share  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel  with  those  whom  God  has  made  of 
one  blood  with  us  in  the  brotherhood  of  humanity. 

A  pursuit  of  this  line  of  thought  would  lead  me  into  an  ar- 
gument for  the  duty  of  foreign  missions.  That  is  not  the 
direct  object  of  these  pages.  True,  I  pray  that,  as  a  result  of 
any  reader's  following  me  in  this  study  of  African  supersti- 
tion, his  desire  will  be  deepened  to  give  to  Africa  the  pure 
truth  in  place  of  its  falsity.  But  the  special  object  of  my  pen, 
in  following  a  certain  thread  of  truth,  is  to  show  how  degrad- 
ingly  false  is  that  falsity,  in  its  lapse  from  God,  even  though  I 
accoixl  it  the  name  of  religion. 

For  my  present  purpose  it  is  sufficiently  accurate  to  define 
theology  as  that  department  of  knowledge  which  takes  cog- 
nizance of  God,  —  His  being,  His  character,  and  His  relation 
to  His  Cosmos.  Whenever  any  intelligent  unit  in  that  Cosmos 
looks  up  to  Him  as  something  greater  than  itself,  under  what 
Schleiermacher  describes  as  "a  sense  of  infinite  dependence," 
and  utters  its  need,  it  has  expressed  its  religion.  It  may  be 
weak,  superstitious,  and  mixed  with  untruth;  nevertheless, 
it  is  religion. 


28  FETICHISM   IN  WEST   AFRICA 

When  a  study  of  God  and  the  thoughts  concerning  Him 
crystallize  into  a  formula  of  words  expressing  a  certain  belief, 
it  is  definitely  a  creed.  When,  under  a  human  necessity, 
a  creed  clothes  itself  in  certain  rites,  ceremonies,  and  for- 
mulas of  practice,  it  is  a  worship.  That  worship  may  be 
fearful  in  its  cruelty  or  ridiculous  in  its  frivolity ;  neverthe- 
less, it  is  a  worship.  Worship  is  essential  to  the  vitality  of 
religion;  without  it  religion  is  simply  a  theory. 

Theology  differentiates  itself  from  other  departments  of 
knowledge,  as  to  its  source  and  its  effects.  For  instance,  in 
the  study  of  geography,  as  to  its  effects,  it  is  comparatively  a 
matter  of  indifference  whether  we  believe  that  the  earth  is 
flat  or  globular,  like  Booker  T.  Washington's  teacher  who 
in  his  district  school  was  prepared  to  teach  either,  "accord- 
ing to  the  preference  of  a  majority  of  his  patrons  " ;  or,  in 
astronomy,  whether  we  believe  that  the  sun  is  the  stationary 
centre  of  our  planetary  system,  or  whether,  with  the  late 
Rev.  John  Jasper,  we  assert  that  the  sun  "do  move  "  around 
our  earth. 

But  in  theology  it  matters  enormously  for  this  present 
life,  whether  we  believe  the  supreme  object  of  our  worship 
to  be  Moloch,  and  infinitely  for  our  future  life,  whether  Jesus 
be  to  us  the  Son  of  God. 

As  to  the  source  of  theological  knowledge,  all  our  other 
knowledge  is  evolved,  systematized,  and  developed  by 
patient  experiment  and  investigation.  The  results  of  any 
particular  branch  of  human  knowledge  are  cumulative,  and 
are  enlarged  and  perfected  from  generation  to  generation. 
But  the  source  of  our  knowledge  of  God  is  not  in  us,  any 
more  than  our  spiritual  life  had  its  source  in  ourselves.  It 
came  ah  extra.  God  breathed  into  the  earthly  form  of  Adam 
the  breath  of  life,  and  he  became  a  living  creature,  essentially 
and  radically  different  from  the  beasts  over  which  he  was 
given  dominion.  Knowledge  of  God  was  thus  an  original, 
donated,  component  part  of  us.  It  grew  under  revelations 
made  during  the  angelic  communications  before  the  Fall. 
Revelation  was  continued  by  the  Logos  along  thousands  of 


THE   IDEA   OF   GOD  29 

years,  until  that  Logos  himself  became  flesh  and  dwelt 
among  us  in  visible  form  in  His  written  word,  and  by  His 
Comforter,  who  still  reveals  to  us. 

I  do  not  feel  it  necessary  here  to  discuss,  or  even  to  ex-' 
press  an  opinion  as  to  the  evolution  of  the  physical  species. 
I  know,  simply  because  God  says  so,  —  and  am  satisfied  with 
this  knowledge,  —  that  "  in  the  beginning  God  created. "  Asi 
to  when  that  "  beginning  "  was,  there  may  be  respectable  dif- 
ference of  opinion;  for  it  is  only  a  human  opinion  that 
asserts  when.  Assertion  may  have  apparently  very  reliable 
data ;  but  these  data  often  are  like  the  bits  of  glass,  factors 
in  the  geometric  figures  of  a  kaleidoscope,  whose  next  turn 
in  scientific  discovery  dislocates  and  relocates  in  an  apparently 
reliable  proof  of  the  existence  of  another  figure. 

As  to  ivhat  it  was  that  God  created  in  that  begin- 
ning, there  may  be  also  respectable  difference  of  opinion. 
Whether,  like  Minerva,  full  armed  from  the  head  of  Jove, 
Adam  sprang  into  his  perfect  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
manhood  on  the  sixth  of  consecutive  days  of  twenty-four 
solar  hours  each;  or  whether,  created  a  weakling,  he  slowly 
grew  up  to  perfect  development ;  or  whether  life  began  only 
in  protoplasm,  and  gradually  differentiated  itself  into  the 
forms  of  beasts,  and  finally  into  that  of  man,  —  back  of  all 
was  a  great  First  Cause  that  "created  "  in  the  "beginning." 
It  is  all  a  subject  fearfully  wonderful. 

"  My  substance  was  not  hid  from  Thee  when  I  was  made 
in  secret,  and  curiously  wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the 
earth.  Thine  eyes  did  see  my  substance,  yet  being  unper- 
fect;  and  in  Thy  book  all  my  members  were  written,  which 
in  continuance  were  fashioned,  when  as  yet  there  was  none 
of  them." 

But  all  such  assertion,  discussion,  and  attempt  at  proof  I 
allow  only  to  what  is  physical  and  finite,  and  is  therefore  a 
legitimate  subject  of  assertion  on  merely  physical  data;  for 
I  do  not  desire  to  discuss,  beyond  simple  mention,  the  Spen- 
cerian  doctrine  of  evolution,  that  materialism  which  would 
make  thought  and  soul  only  successions  in  a  series  (even  if 


30  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

the  highest  and  best)  of  evoluted  developments.  To  account 
for  the  religious  nature  in  man  by  evolution  I  regard  as  a 
thing  that  cannot  be  done.  It  is  a  tenable  position  held  by 
evolutionists  such  as  Dana,  Winchell,  and  the  late  Professor 
Le  Conte  of  California,  that  "at  the  creation  of  man  the 
divine  fiat  asserted  itself,  and  '  breathed  into  man  the  breath 
of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul. '  Immortality  cannot 
be  evolved  out  of  mortality.  If  Spencerian  evolution  is  true, 
either  everything  is  immortal  or  nothing  is  immortal;  man 
and  vermin  in  this  hypothesis  go  together." 

Man's  soul  came  to  him  direct  from  God,  a  part  of  His 
own  infinite  life,  in  His  "image,"  and  like  Him  in  His  holi- 
ness. Man's  thoughts  of  God  were  holy.  The  expression 
of  them  in  words  and  acts  was  his  practical  religion,  the 
visible,  audible  link  that  "  bound  "  (ligated)  him  to  God.  In 
this  there  could  be  no  evolution,  unless  that,  in  the  many 
forms  and  ceremonies  used  in  the  expression  of  religious 
thought  (which  ceremonies  constitute  worship),  there  could 
be,  and  were,  variation,  change,  development,  or  retrogression. 

Therefore  I  cannot  accept  the  conclusions  of  those  who 
in  their  study  of  ethnology  claim  to  find  that  the  religious 
beliefs  of  the  world,  and  even  the  very  idea  of  a  Supreme 
Being,  have  been  evolved  by  man  himself  ah  intra.  They 
claim  that  this  evolution  has  been  by  primitive  man,  from 
low  forms  of  beliefs  in  spiritual  beings,  through  polytheism 
and  idolatry,  uj)  to  the  conception  of  monotheism  and  its 
belief  in  the  one  living  God.  This  process  they  claim  to  be 
able  to  follow  on  lines  racial  and  national,  under  the  civil- 
izations of  Chaldee,  Greek,  Roman,  Teutonic,  and  other  stocks. 

"Until  some  human  being  can  be  found  with  a  conception 
of  spiritual  existences  without  his  having  received  instruc- 
tion on  that  point  from  those  who  went  before  him,  the  claim 
.  .  .  that  primitive  man  ever  obtained  his  spiritual  knowl- 
edge or  his  spiritual  conceptions  from  within  himself  alone, 
or  without  an  external  revelation  to  him,  is  an  unscientific 
assumption  in  the  investigation  of  the  origin  of  religions  in 
the  world."  ^ 

1  Trumbull,  Blood  Covenant,  p.  311, 


THE   IDEA   OF   CxOD  31 

The  rather  I  find,  in  my  own  ethnological  observations 
during  these  more  than  forty  years  in  direct  contact  with 
aboriginal  peoples,  that  the  initial  starting-point  of  man's 
knowledge  of  God  was  by  revelation  from  Jehovah  himself. 
This  knowledge  was  to  be  conserved  by  man's  conscience, 
God's  implanted  witness,  —  a  witness  that  can  be  coerced 
into  silence,  that  may  be  nursed  into  forgetfulness,  that 
may  be  perverted  by  abuse,  that  may  be  covered  up  by 
superimposed  falsities,  that  may  be  discolored  by  the  black- 
ness of  foul  degradation,  but  which  can  never  be  utterly 
destroyed;  which  on  occasions,  like  the  Titans,  arouses  it- 
self with  volcanic  force;  which  at  God's  final  bar  is  to 
be  His  sufficient  proof  for  the  verities  and  responsibilities  of 
at  least  natural  religion  ("natural"  religion,  a  recognition 
of  certain  attributes  of  God  as  revealed  in  the  works  of 
nature).  This  knowledge  of  God,  a  treasure  hid  in  earthen 
vessels,  rightly  used  and  cherished,  was  to  grow  and  de- 
velop under  subsequent  divine  revelation,  so  that  man  might 
become  more  and  more  like  his  divine  original;  or,  if  abused, 
neglected,  or  perverted,  it  would  carry  him  even  farther  ;/ 
away  from  God. 

"Not  alone  those  who  insist  on  the  belief  that  there  was  a 
gradual  development  of  the  race  from  a  barbarous  beginning, 
but  also  those  who  believe  that  man  started  on  a  higher 
plane,  and  in  his  degradation  retained  vestiges  of  God's 
original  revelation  to  him,  are  finding  profit  in  the  study 
of  primitive  myths,  and  of  aboriginal  rites  and  ceremonies 
all  the  world  over."  ^ 

I  do  not  impeach  the  sincerity  of  those  students  of  primi-  (^  y 
five  thought  who  teach  that  man  in  his  religious  beliefs  has 
reached  his  present  monotheism  by  progressive  growths  from 
polytheism,  or  that  he  has  attained  his  present  conception 
of  the  very  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being-  by  a  gradual 
emergence  from  a  state  of  ignorance  in  which  even  the 
idea  of  such  a  being  did  not  exist;   but  I  do  discount  the 

1  Trumbull,  Blood  Covenant,  p.  4. 


32  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

competency  of   many  of   the  witnesses  on  whose  testimony 
they  base  their  conclusions. 

Whatever  may  be  proved  in  a  complete  investigation  by 
science  into  the  arcana  of  nature,  —  of  archaeology  and  other 
channels  of  research,  —  a  reverent  comparison  of  these  re- 
sults of  finite  intelligence  will  find  them  not  inconsistent 
with  the  statements  of  God's  infinite  Word.  Indeed,  that 
Word  was  not  written  to  make  any  definite  statement  on 
astronomy  or  geology,  or  any  other  human  science.  The 
only  science  of  the  Bible  is  that  of  man's  relation  to  his 
divine  Father;  its  only  history  a  history  of  redemption,  as 
promised  to  Eve  and  her  seed,  the  Jewish  nation,  and  as 
fulfilled  in  the  Lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah.  Apparent  con- 
flicts of  the  Bible  with  science  are  not  always  real;  too 
often  a  claim  is  set  up,  based  on  a  single  observation,  per- 
haps hastily  made,  and  not  verified  by  a  comparison  of  the 
variable  factors  in  that  observation. 

I  suppose  that  it  is  true  that  in  the  theology  of  even 
the  worst  forms  of  religion  there  is  more  or  less  truth, 
and  almost  equally  true  that  in  the  theology  of  the  best 
forms  there  may  be  somewhat  of  superstition.  This  is  so 
because,  as  I  believe,  all  religions  had  but  one  source,  and 
that  a  pure  one.  From  it  have  grown  perversions  varying 
in  their  proportion  of  truth  and  error. 

In  this  study  of  the  African  theologic  ideas  I  shall 
endeavor  to  separate  these  two  —  the  false  and  the  true  — 
into  two  divisions :  First,  Beliefs  in  God  more  or  less  true, 
which  have  had  their  birth  in  tradition  of  some  divine  reve- 
lation, which  find  at  least  faint  echoes  in  human  conscience, 
and  which  among  exalted  nations  would  be  formulated  into 
confessions,  creeds,  and  articles  of  faith.  Second,  Ani- 
mism or  beliefs  in  vague  spiritual  beings,  which,  being 
almost  pure  superstitions,  cannot,  from  their  very  nature, 
be  accurately  formulated,  they  being  the  outgrowth  of  every 
individual's  imagination,  and  varying  with  all  the  variances 
of  time,  place,  and  human  thought. 
^  Eliminating  from  any  theology  its  superstitious  element, 


THE   IDEA   OF   GOD  33 

we  shall  find  the  highest  and  truest  religion.  But  if  you 
eliminate  from  the  theology  of  the  Bantu  African  its 
superstition,  you  will  have  very  little  left;  for,  among  the 
religions  of  the  world,  it  comes  nearest  to  being  purely  a 
superstition.  So  nearly  is  this  true  that  travellers  and 
other  superficial  observers  and  theorists  have  asserted  that 
the  religious  beliefs  of  some  degraded  tribes  were  simply 
superstitions,   destitute  of  reference  to  any  superior  being. 

I  can  readily  see  how  the  reports  of  some  travellers  —  even 
of  those  who  had  no  prejudice  against  the  Negro,  the  precepts 
of  the  Bible,  or  missionary  work  —  could  be  made  in  apparent 
sincerity,  when  they  state  that  native  Africans  have  con- 
fessed of  themselves  that  they  had  no  idea  of  God's  exist- 
ence; also,  their  belief  that  some  pygmy  and  other  tribes 
were  too  destitute  of  intelligence  to  possess  that  idea,  —  that 
it  either  must  be  given  them  ab  extra  by  the  possessors  of  a 
superior  civilization,  or  must  be  developed  by  themselves  as 
they  rise  in  civilization. 

The  difficulty  about  the  testimony  of  these  witnesses  in  this 
matter  is  that,  being  passers-by  in  time,  they  were  unable  — 
by  reason  of  lack  of  ability  to  converse  fluently,  or  absence 
of  a  reliable  interpreter,  or  of  being  out  of  touch  with 
native  mode  of  thought  or  speech  —  to  make  their  question- 
ings intelligible. 

On  the  heathen  side,  also,  the  obsequious  natives,  un- 
accustomed to  analytic  thought,  will  answer  vaguely  on 
the  spur  of  the  moment,  and  often  as  far  as  possible  in 
the  line  of  what  they  suppose  will  best  please  the  ques- 
tioner. All  native  statements  must  be  discounted,  must  be 
sifted. 

I  am  aware  that  some  missionaries  are  quoted  as  having 
said  or  written  that  the  people  among  whom  they  were; 
laboring  "had  no  idea  of  God."  Even  Robert  Moffat  is 
reported  to  have  held  this  opinion.  If  so,  it  must  have; 
been  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  ministry,  under  his  firsti 
shock  at  the  depth  of  native  degradation,  before  he  had' 
become   fluent  in   the  native  language,    and  before  he  had 


34  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

found  out  all  the  secrets  of  that  difficult  problem,  an  Afri- 
can's native  thought.  Such  an  unqualified  phrase  could  be 
uttered  by  a  missionary  in  an  hour  of  depression,  in  the 
presence  of  some  great  demonstration  of  heathen  wicked- 
ness, and  in  an  effort  to  describe  how  very  far  the  heathen 
was  from  God.  That  the  heathen  had  no  correct  idea  of 
God  is  often  true. 

Arnot,  who  among  modern  African  missionaries  has  lived 
most  closely  and  intimately  with  the  rudest  tribes  in  their 
veriest  hovels,  writes :  ^  "  Man  is  a  very  fragile  being,  and  he 
is  fully  conscious  that  he  requires  supernatural  or  divine  aid. 
Apart  from  the  distinct  revelation  given  by  God  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Romans,  there  is  much  to  prove  that  the  heathen 
African  is  a  man  to  whom  the  living  God  has  aforetime  re- 
vealed himself.  But  he  had  sought  after  things  of  his  own 
imagination  and  things  of  darkness  to  satisfy  those  convic- 
tions and  fears  which  lurk  in  his  breast,  and  which  have  not 
been  planted  there  by  the  Evil  One,  but  by  God.  Refusing 
to  acknowledge  God,^  they  have  become  haters  of  God.^  The 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  them,  however,  is  not  a  mere  beat- 
ing of  the  air;  there  is  a  peg  in  the  wall  upon  which  some- 
thing can  be  hung  and  remain.  Often  a  few  young  men 
have  received  the  message  with  laughter  and  ridicule,  but 
I  have  afterwards  heard  them  discuss  my  words  amongst 
themselves  very  gravely.  I  heard  one  man  say  to  a  neigh- 
bor, '  Monare's  words  pierce  the  heart.'  Another  remarked 
that  the  story  of  Christ's  death  was  very  beautiful,  but  that 
he  knew  it  was  not  meant  for  him ;  he  was  a  '  makala ' 
(slave),  and  such  a  sacrifice  was  only  for  white  men  and 
princes." 

Lionel  Decl^,*  who  certainly  is  not  prejudiced  toward 
missionaries  or  the  Negro,  writes  of  the  Barotse  tribe  in 
South  Africa  and  their  worship  of  ancestors:  "They  be- 
lieve in  a  Supreme  Being,  Niambe,  who  is  supposed  to 
come  and  take  away  the  spiritual  part  of  the  dead."     This 

1  Garenganze,  p.  79.  ^  Rom.  i.  28,  margin. 

•  Eom.  i.  30.  *  Three  Years  in  Savage  Africa,  p.  74. 


i 


THE   IDEA    OF   GOD  35 

name  "Niambe,"  for  the  Deity,  is  almost  exactly  the  same  as 
"Aiiyambe,"  in  Benga,  two  thousand  miles  distant. 

Illustrative  of  traveller  Decle's  haste  or  inexactitude  in 
the  use  of  language,  he  apparently  contradicts  himself  on 
page  153,  in  speaking  of  a  tribe,  the  Matabele,  adjacent 
to  the  Barotse:  "The  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being  is  utterly 
foreign,  and  cannot  be  appreciated  by  the  native  mind. 
They  have  a  vague  idea  of  a  number  of  evil  spirits  always 
ready  to  do  harm,  and  chief  among  these  are  the  spirits  of 
their  ancestors ;  but  they  do  not  pray  to  them  to  ask  for 
their  help  if  they  wish  to  enter  on  any  undertaking.  They 
merely  offer  sacrifices  to  appease  them  when  some  evil  has 
befallen  the  family." 

Perhaps  he  and  other  cursory  travellers,  in  making  such 
hasty  assertions,  mean  that  the  native  has  no  idea  of  the  true 
character  of  God ;  in  that  they  would  be  correct. 

The  accounts  which  some  travellers  have  given  of  tribes 
without  religion  I  either  set  down  to  misunderstanding,  or 
consider  them  to  be  insufficient  to  invalidate  the  assertion 
that  religion  is  a  universal  feature  of  savage  life. 

However  degraded,  every  people  have  a  religion.  But 
they  are  children,  babes  in  the  woods,  lost  in  the  forest  of 
ignorance,  dense  and  more  morally  malarious  than  Stanley's 
forest  of  Urgga.  In  their  helplessness,  under  a  feeling  of 
their  "infinite  dependence,"  they  cry  out  in  the  night  of 
their  orphanage,  "Help  us,  O  Paia  Njambe!"  Their  fore-: 
fathers  wandered  so  far  froni  him  that  only  a  name  is  left  by 
which  to  describe  the  All-Father,  whose  true  character  has 
been  utterly  forgotten,  —  so  forgotten  that  they  rarely  wor-l 
ship  him,  but  have  given  such  honor  and  reverence  as  they 
do  render  literally  to  the  supposed  spiritual  residents  in 
stocks  and  stones.  "Lo!  this  only  have  I  found,  that 
God  hath  made  man  upright;  but  they  have  sought  out 
many  inventions." 

Offering  in  the  following  pages  a  formulation  of  African 
superstitious  beliefs  and  practice,  I  premise  that  I  have 
gathered  them  from  a  very  large  number  of  native  witnesses, 


36  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

very  few  of  whom  presented  to  me  all  the  same  ideas. 
Any  one  else,  inquiring  of  other  natives  in  other  places, 
would  not  find,  as  held  by  every  one  of  them,  all  that  I 
have  recorded ;  but  parts  of  all  these  separate  ideas  will  be 
found  held  by  separate  individuals  everywhere. 

After  more  than  forty  j'cars'  residence  among  these  tribes, 
fluently  using  their  language,  conversant  with  their  customs, 
dwelling  intimately  in  their  huts,  associating  with  them  in 
the  varied  relations  of  teacher,  pastor,  friend,  master,  fellow- 
traveller,  and  guest,  and,  in  my  special  office  as  missionary, 
searching  after  their  religious  thought  (and  therefore  being 
allowed  a  deeper  entrance  into  the  arcana  of  their  soul  than 
would  be  accorded  to  a  passing  explorer),  I  am  able  unhesi- 
tatingly to  say  that  among  all  the  multitude  of  degraded 
ones  with  whom  I  have  met,  I  have  seen  or  heard  of  none 
whose  religious  thought  was  only  a  superstition. 

Standing  in  the  village  street,  surrounded  by  a  company 
whom  their  chief  has  courteously  summoned  at  my  request, 
when  I  say  to  him,  "I  have  come  to  speak  to  your  people," 
I  do  not  need  to  begin  by  telling  them  that  there  is  a  God. 
Looking  on  that  motley  assemblage  of  villagers,  —  the  bold, 
gaunt  cannibal  with  his  armament  of  gun,  spear,  and  dagger; 
the  artisan  with  rude  adze  in  hand,  or  hands  soiled  at  the 
antique  bellows  of  the  village  smithy;  women  who  have 
hasted  from  their  kitchen  fire  with  hands  white  with  the 
manioc  dough  or  still  grasping  the  partly  scaled  fish ;  and 
children  checked  in  their  play  with  tiny  bow  and  arrow  or 
startled  from  their  dusty  street  pursuit  of  dog  or  goat,  —  I 
have  yet  to  be  asked,   "Who  is  God?" 

Under  the  slightly  varying  form  of  Anyambe,  Anyambie, 
Njambi,  Nzambi,  Anzam,  Nyam,  or,  in  other  parts,  Ukuku, 
Suku,  and  so  forth,  they  know  of  a  Being  superior  to 
themselves,  of  whom  they  themselves  inform  me  that  he  is 
the  Maker  and  Father.  The  divine  and  human  relations  of 
these  two  names  at  once  give  me  ground  on  which  to  stand 
in  beginning  my  address. 

If  suddenly  they  should  be  asked  the  flat  question,  "  Do 


THE   IDEA   OF   GOD  37 

you  know  Anyambe  ? "  they  would  probably  tell  any 
white  visitor,  trader,  traveller,  or  even  missionary,  under 
a  feeling  of  their  general  ignorance  and  the  white  man's 
superior  knowledge,  "No!  What  do  we  know?  You  are 
white  people  and  are  spirits ;  you  come  from  Njambi's  town, 
and  know  all  about  him !  "  (This  will  help  to  explain, 
what  is  probably  true,  that  some  natives  have  sometimes 
made  the  thoughtless  admission  that  they  "know  nothino- 
about  a  God.")  I  repl}^  "No,  I  am  not  a  spirit;  and,  while 
I  do  indeed  know  about  Anyambe,  /  did  not  call  him  by 
that  name.  It's  your  own  word.  Where  did  you  get  it?"  / 
"Our  forefathers  told  us  that  name.  Njambi  is  the  One- 
who-made-us.  He  is  our  Father."  Pursuing  the  conversa- 
tion, they  will  interestedly  and  voluntarily  say,  "  He  made 
these  trees,  that  mountain,  this  river,  these  goats  and 
chickens,  and  us  people." 

That  typical  conversation  I  have  had  hundreds  of  times, 
under  an  immense  variety  of  circumstances,  with  the  most 
varied  audiences,  and  before  extremes  of  ignorance,  sav- 
agery, and  uncivilization,  utterly  barring  out  the  admission 
of  a  probability  that  the  tribe,  audience,  or  individual  in 
question  had  obtained  a  previous  knowledge  of  the  name 
by  hearsay  from  adjacent  more  enlightened  tribes.  For 
the  name  of  that  Great  Being  was  everywhere  and  in  every 
tribe  before  any  of  them  had  become  enlightened ;  varied  in 
form  in  each  tribe  by  the  dialectic  difference  belonging  to 
their  own,  and  not  imported  from  others,  —  for,  where  tribes 
are  hundreds  of  miles  apart  or  their  dialects  greatly  differ, 
the  variation  in  the  name  is  great,  e.  g.^  "Suku,"  of  the  Bihe 
country,  south  of  the  Kongo  River  and  in  the  interior  back 
of  Angola,  and  "Nzam"  of  the  cannibal  Fang,  north  of  the 
equator. 

But  while  it  is  therefore  undeniable  that  a  knowledge  of 
this  Great  Being  exists  among  the  natives,  and  that  the  belief 
is  held  that  he  is  a  superior  and  even  a  supreme  being,  that 
supremacy  is  not  so  great  as  what  we  ascribe  to  Jehovah. 
Nevertheless,    I  believe  that   the   knowledge   of   their  An- 


i>- 


38  PETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

zain  or  Anyambe  has  come  down  —  clouded  though  it  be 
and  fearfully  obscured  and  marred,  but  still  a  revelation  — 
from  Jehovah  Himself.  Most  of  the  same  virtues  which 
we  in  our  enlightened  Christianity  commend,  and  many  of 
the  vices  which  we  denounce,  they  respectively  commend 
and  denounce.  No  one  of  them  praises  to  me  theft  or  false- 
hood or  murder.  They  speak  of  certain  virtues  as  "good," 
and  of  other  things  which  are  "bad,"  though,  just  as  do  the 
depraved  of  Christian  lands,  they  follow  the  vices  they  con- 
demn. True,  certain  evils  they  do  defend,  e.  g.  (as  did  some 
of  our  New  England  ancestors)  witchcraft  executions,  justi- 
fying them  as  judicial  acts ;  and  j^olygamy,  considering  it  (as 
our  civilized  Mormons)  a  desirable  social  institution  (but, 
unlike  the  Mormons,  not  claiming  for  it  the  sanction  of  re- 
ligion); and  slaver}^,  regarded  (as  only  a  generation  ago  in 
the  United  States )  as  necessary  for  a  certain  kind  of  property. 
But  theft,  falsehood,  and  some  other  sins,  when  committed 
by  others,  their  own  consciences  condemn,  —  closely  covered 
up  and  blunted  as  those  consciences  may  be,  —  thus  witness- 
ing with  and  for  God. 

While  all  this  is  true,  their  knowledge  of  God  is  almost 
simply  a  theory.  It  is  an  accepted  belief,  but  it  does  not 
often  influence  their  life.  "God  is  not  in  all  their  thought." 
In  practice  they  give  Him  no  worship.  God  is  simply 
"counted  out." 

Resuming  my  street-preaching  conversation:  Immediately 
after  the  admission  by  the  audience  of  their  knowledge  of 
Anzam  as  the  Creator  and  Father,  I  say,  "  Why  then  do 
you  not  obey  this  Father's  commands,  who  tells  you  to  do 
so  and  so  ?  Why  do  you  disobey  his  prohibitions,  who  for- 
bids you  to  do  so  and  so?  Why  do  you  not  worship  him?" 
Promptly  they  reply :  "  Yes,  he  made  us ;  but,  having  made 
us,  he  abandoned  us,  does  not  care  for  us ;  he  is  far  from 
us.  Why  should  we  care  for  him?  He  does  not  help  nor 
harm  us.  It  is  the  spirits  who  can  harm  us  whom  we  fear 
and  worship,  and  for  whom  we  care." 

Another  witness  on   this  subject   is   the    Rev.   Dr.   J.   L.. 


THE    IDEA   OF   GOD  39 

Wilson.  1  Speaking  of  Africa  and  its  Negro  inhabitants,  he 
says:  "The  belief  in  one  great  Supreme  Being  is  universah 
Nor  is  this  idea  hehl  inii)erfectly  or  obscurely  developed  in! 
their  minds.  The  impression  is  so  deeply  engraved  upon' 
their  moral  and  mental  nature  that  any  system  of  atheism 
strikes  them  as  too  absurd  and  preposterous  to  require  aj 
denial.  Everything  which  transpires  in  the  natural  world 
beyond  the  power  of  man  or  of  spirits,  who  are  supposed  to 
occupy  a  place  somewhat  higher  than  man,  is  at  once  and 
spontaneously  ascribed  to  he  agency  of  God.  All  the  tribes 
in  the  country  with  which  the  writer  has  become  acquainted 
(and  they  are  not  few)  have  a  name  for  God ;  and  many  of 
them  have  two  or  more,  significant  of  His  character  as  a  Maker, 
Preserver,  and  Benefactor.  (In  the  Grebo  country  Nyiswa  is 
the  common  name  for  God ;  but  He  is  sometimes  called  Geyi, 
indicative  of  His  character  as  Maker.  In  Ashanti  He  has  two 
names:  viz.^  Yankumpon,  which  signifies  'My  Great  Friend,' 
and  Yemi,  'My  Maker.')  The  people,  however,  have  no 
correct  idea  of  the  character  or  attributes  of  the  Deity. 
Destitute  of  (a  written)  revelation,  and  without  any  other 
means  of  forming  a  correct  conception  of  Plis  moral  nature, 
they  naturally  reason  up  from  their  own  natures,  and,  in 
consequence,  think  of  Him  as  a  being  like  themselves. 

"  Nor  have  they  any  correct  notion  of  the  control  which  God 
exercises  over  the  affairs  of  the  world.  The  prevailing  notion 
seems  to  be  that  God,  after  having  made  the  world  and  filled 
it  with  inhabitants,  retired  to  some  remote  corner  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  has  allowed  the  affairs  of  the  world  to  come  under 
the  control  of  evil  spirits ;  and  hence  the  only  religious  wor- 
ship that  is  ever  performed  is  directed  to  these  spirits,  the 
object  of  which  is  to  court  their  favor,  or  ward  off  the  evil 
effects  of  their  displeasure. 

"  On  some  rare  occasions,  as  at  the  ratification  of  an  impor- 
tant treaty,  or  when  a  man  is  condemned  to  drink  the  '  red- 
water  ordeal,'  the  name  of  God  is  solemnly  invoked;  and, 
what  is  worthy  of  note,  is  invoked  three  times  with  marked 

1  Western  Africa,  p.  209. 


40  FETICHISM   IN   WEh'T   AFRICA 

precision.  Whether  this  involves  ^he  idea  of  a  Trinity  we 
shall  not  pretend  to  decide;  but  the  tact  itself  is  worthy  of 
record.  Many  of  the  tribes  speak  of  the  'Son  of  God.' 
The  Grebos  call  him  '  Greh,'  and  the  Amina  people,  accord- 
ing to  Pritchard,  call  him  'Sankombum.'  " 

The  following  testimony  I  gather  from  conversations  with 
the  late  Rev.  Ibia  j'Ikenge,  a  native  minister  and  member 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Corisco,  who  himself  was  born  in 
heathenism.      He  stated: 

That  his  forefathers  believed  in  many  inferior  agencies 
who  are  under  the  control  of  a  Superior  Being;  that  they 
were  therefore  primitive  raonotheists.  Under  great  emer- 
gencies they  looked  beyond  the  lower  beings,  and  asked  help 
of  that  Superior;  before  doing  so,  they  prayed  to  him,  im- 
ploring him  as  Father  to  help; 

That  the  people  of  this  country  believed  God  made  the 
world  and  everything  in  it;  but  he  did  not  know  whether 
they  had  had  any  ideas  about  creation  from  dust  of  the 
ground  or  in  God's  likeness; 

That  they  believed  in  the  existence,  in  the  first  times,  of 
a  great  man,  who  had  simply  to  speak,  and  all  things  were 
made  by  the  word  of  his  power.  As  to  man's  creation,  a 
legend  states  it  thus:  Two  eggs  fell  from  on  high.  On  strik- 
ing the  ground  and  breaking,  one  became  a  man  and  the  other 
a  woman.  (Apparently  there  is  no  memory  of  any  legend 
indicating  the  name,  character,  or  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.) 

That  there  is  a  legend  of  a  great  chief  of  a  village  wno 
always  warned  people  not  to  eat  of  the  fruit  of  a  certain  tree. 
Finally,  he  himself  ate  of  it  and  died; 

That  there  was  no  legend,  but,  among  a  few  persons,  a 
vague  tradition  of  a  once  happy  period,  and  of  a  coming  time 
of  good;  but  he  knew  of  nothing  corresponding  to  the  story 
of  Cain  and  Abel; 

That  there  is  a  fable  that  a  woman  brought  to  the  people 
of  her  village  the  fruit  of  a  forbidden  tree.  In  order  to  hide 
it  she  swallowed  it;  and  she  became  possessed  of  an  evil 
spirit,  which  was  the  beginning  of  witchcraft; 


THE   IDEA    OF   GOD  41 

That  there  was  some  tradition  of  a  Deluge  (he  was  not 
aware  of  any  about  the  Dispersion  at  the  Tower  of  Babel) ; 

That  all  men  believed  they  were  sinners,  but  that  they 
knew  of  no  remedy  for  sin; 

That  sacrifices  are  made  constantly,  their  object  being  to 
appease  the  spirits  and  avert  their  anger; 

That  many  of  the  tribes  are,  and  probably  all,  before 
they  emerged  on  the  seacoast,  were  cannibal  (of  tlie  origin 
of  cannibalism  he  did  not  know,  but  he  was  certain  it  had 
no  religious  idea  associated  with  it  ^) ; 

That  there  was  a  legend  that  a  "  Son  "  of  God,  by  name 
Ilongo  ja  Anyambe,  was  to  come  and  deliver  mankind  from 
trouble  and  give  them  haiDpiness ;  but  as  he  had  not  as  yet 
come,   the  heathen  were  no  longer  expecting  him; 

That  there  was  a  division  of  time,  six  months,  making  an 
"upuma,"  or  ycai\  and  a  rest  day,  which  came  two  days  after 
the  new  moon,  and  was  called  Buhwa  bwa  Mandanda,  —  it 
was  a  day  for  dancing  and  feasting; 

That  the  dead  were  usually  buried;  but  persons  held  in 
superstitious  reverence,  as  twins,  Udinge,  etc.,  were  not 
buried,  but  left  at  the  foot  of  a  ceiba,  or  silk-cotton  tree,  or 
other  sacred  tree; 

That  burial-places  are  regarded  with  a  mixed  feeling  of 
reverence  and  awe ; 

That  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  believed  in,  but  that 
there  is  no  tradition  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body; 

That  they  believe  God  gave  law  to  mankind,  and  that,  for 
those  who  keep  this  law,  there  is  reserved  in  the  future  a 
"good  place,"  and  for  the  bad  a  "bad  place,"  but  no  definite 
ideas  about  what  that  "good  "  or  that  "  bad  "  will  be,  or  as  to 
the  locality  of  those  places ; 

That  they  believe  in  a  distinction  of  spirits,  —  that  some  are 
demons^  as  in  the  old  days  of  demoniacal  possession,  this  dis- 
tinction following^  the  Jewish  idea  of  diaboloi  and  daimonai. 

1  I  am  strongly  disposed  to  thiuk  that,  iu  its  origin,  there  was  a  sacrificial 
idea  connected  with  cannibalism.  —  R.  H.  N. 


CHAPTER  III 

POLYTHEISM  —  IDOLATRY 

CIVILIZATION  and  religion  do  not  necessarily  move 
with  equal  pace.  Whatever  is  really  best  in  the  ethics 
of  civilization  is  derived  from  religion.  If  civilization  falls 
backward,  religion  probably  has  already  weakened  or  will 
also  fall.  The  converse  is  not  necessarily  true.  Religion  may 
halt  or  even  retrograde,  while  civilization  steps  on  brilliantly, 
as  it  did  in  Greece  with  her  Parthenon,  and  in  Rome  the 
while  that  religion  added  to  the  number  of  idols  in  the  pan- 
theon. Egypt,  too,  had  her  men  learned  in  astronomy,  who 
built  splendid  palaces  and  hundred-pillared  Thebes  the  while 
they  were  worshipping  Osiris.  The  dwellers  before  the 
Deluge  had  carried  their  civilization  to  a  knowledge  of  arts 
now  lost,  while  their  wickedness  and  utter  wanderings  from 
God's  worship  caused  the  earth  to  cry  out  for  a  cleansing 
Flood. 

Whatever  therefore  may  be  true  in  the  history  of  civiliza- 
tion —  whether  man  was  gifted,  ah  i7iitio,  with  a  large  measure 
of  useful  knowledge  which  he  had  simply  easily  to  put  into 
practice ;  or  whether,  as  a  savage,  primitive  man  had  slowly 
and  painfully  to  find  out  under  pressure  the  use  of  fire, 
clothing,  weapons  of  defence  and  offence,  tools,  and  other 
necessary  articles  and  arts  —  is  not  important  here  to  be  dis- 
cussed. From  whatever  point  of  vantage,  high  or  low,  Adam's 
sons  started,  we  know  that  they  had  at  least  tools  for  agri- 
culture ^  and  for  the  building  of  houses ;  ^  and  that  a  few  gen- 

1  Gen.  iv.  2.  2  Qen.  iv.  17. 


POLYTHEISM  —  IDOLATRY  43 

erations  later,  their  knowledge  of  arts  had  grown  from  those 
which  aided  in  the  acquisition  of  the  bare  necessaries  of  life 
into  the  aesthetics  of  music  and  metallic  ornamentation. ^ 

But  religion  did  not  wait  that  length  of  time  for  its  growth. 
To  the  original  pair  in  Eden,  Jehovah  had  given  a  knowledge 
of  Himself.  They  felt  His  character,  they  were  told  His  will ; 
and  when  they  had  disobej'ed  that  will,  they  were  given  a 
promise  of  salvation,  and  were  instructed  in  certain  given  rites 
of  worship,  e.  g.,  offerings  and  sacrifice.  They  knew^  the  sig- 
nificance of  atoning  blood,  and  the  difference  between  a  simple 
thank-offering  and  a  sin-offering.  All  this  knowledge  of  re- 
ligion was  not  a  possession  which  man  had  attained  by  slow 
degrees.  He  started  with  it  in  full  possession,  while  yet  he  was 
clothed  only  in  the  skins  of  beasts,^  and  before  he  knew  how  to 
make  musical  instruments  or  to  fashion  brass  and  iron.  His 
jeligion  was  in  advance  of  his  civilization.  Subsequently  his 
civiHzation  pushed  ahead. 

What  were  the  gradual  steps  before  the  Deluge,  in  the  di- 
vergence of  man's  worship  of  God,  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 
if  we  look  at  the  history  of  the  Chaldees,  of  the  Hittites,  and  of 
the  Jews  themselves.  Subsequent  to  the  Deluge,  from  tlie 
grateful  sacrifice  of  the  seventh  animal  by  Noah,  to  Abraham's 
typical  offering  of  Isaac,  it  is  not  a  very  far  cry  to  the  butchery 
of  Jephthah's  daughter  or  the  immolations  to  Moloch.  A  well- 
intended  Ed*  may  readily  become  a  schismatic  Mecca.  An 
altar  of  Dan  is  soon  furnished  with  its  golden  calf. 

With  this  as  a  starting-point,  viz.,  that  the  knowledge  of 
himself  was  directly  imparted  to  man  by  Jehovah,  and  that 
certain  forms  of  worship  were  originally  directed  and  sanc- 
tioned by  Him,  I  wish  in  subsequent  pages  to  follow  that 
line  of  light  through  the  labyrinths  of  man's  wandering  from 
monotheism  into  polytheism,  idolatry,  and  even  into  crass 
fetichism. 

Abstract  faith  is  difficult.     It  is  so  much  easier  to  believe 
what  we  see,  to  have  faith  assisted  by  sight.    Even  such  faith  , 
is  not  without  its  blessing,  but  "  blessed  are  they  that  have 

1  Gen.  iv.  21,  22.        -  Heb.  xi.  4.        ^  Qgn,  m  2I.        •»  Joshua  xxii.  34. 


^0 


44  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed."  ^  Memory  is  assisted  by 
visible  signs ;  whence  the  art  of  writing,  —  in  its  usefulness 
so  far  beyond  the  Indian's  wampum  belts.  Merely  oral  law 
is  apt  to  be  forgotten,  or  its  requisitions  and  prohibitions 
become  hazy. 

As  the  years  passed  by,  and  nations,  after  the  dispersion 
from  the  tower  on  the  plain  of  Shinar,  diverged  more  and 
more,  not  only  in  speech  and  writing  but  also  in  customs, 
their  religious  thought  began  to  vary  from  the  simple  standard 
of  Adam  and  Noah.  Between  those  small  beginnings  of  vari- 
ation and  the  gulf -like  depth  of  the  fetich,  there  are  three 
successive  steps. 

First,  retaining  the  name  of  and  belief  in  and  worship  of 
Jehovah,  mankind  added  something  else.  They  associated 
with  Jehovah  certain  natural  objects.  This,  it  is  readily  con- 
ceivable, they  could  do  without  feeling  that  they  were  dis- 
honoring Him.  They  could  not  see  Him  ;  in  their  expression 
of  their  wants  in  prayer  they  were  speaking  into  vague  space 
and  heard  no  audible  response.  The  strain  on  simple  un- 
assisted faith  was  heavy.  The  senses  asked  for  something  on 
which  they  could  lean.  Very  reasonable,  therefore,  it  was  for 
ihe  pious  thought,  in  speaking  to  the  Great  Invisible,  to  asso- 
ciate closely  with  His  name  the  great  natural  objects  in  which 
His  character  was  revealed  or  illustrated  the,  —  sun,  shining  in 
strength  and  beneficently  giving  life  to  plants  and  the  comfort 
of  its  warmth  to  all  creation ;  the  moon,  benefiting  in  a  similar 
though  less  prominent  way ;  the  sky,  from  which  spake  the 
thunder ;  the  mountain,  towering  in  its  solemn  majesty ;  the 
sea,  spread  out  in  its  inscrutable  immensity.  All  these  illus- 
trating some  of  Jehovah's  attributes,  —  His  power,  goodness, 
infinity, — without  impropriety  associated  themselves  in  man's 
thought  of  God,  were  named  along  with  His  name,  and  were 
looked  upon  with  some  of  the  same  reverence  which  was  ac- 
corded to  Him.  In  all  this  there  Avas  no  conscious  departure 
from  the  worship  of  the  one  living  and  true  God.  The  posi- 
tion to  which  these  great  natural  objects  were  gradually  ele- 

1  John  XX.  29. 


POLYTHEISM  —  IDOLATRY  45 

vated  relatively  to  God,  in  the  thoug-ht  of  tlie  worshipper,  was 
not  as  yet  blasphemous,  or  in  any  intentional  way  derogatory 
to  Him.  But  the  evil  in  this  elevation  of  nature  into  prom- 
inence with  God  was  that  there  was  no  limit  to  the  number 
of  objects  or  the  degree  of  their  elevation.  From  the  dignilicd 
use  of  sun,  moon,  sky,  and  sea,  by  unconscious  degradations 
animals  became  the  objects  of  worship  —  the  bull,  the  ser- 
pent, and  the  cat  (each  illustrative  of  some  attribute), 
and  thence  finally  objects  that  were  frivolous,  ridiculous,  or 
disgusting,  which  nevertheless  were  each  the  exponent  of 
some  principle.  Even  the  indecencies  of  Phallic  worship  had 
found  their  dignified  beginning  in  an  attempt  to  honor  the 
great  principle  of  life  in  nature's  procreative  processes. 

But  there  came  a  time,  in  the  multiplying  of  the  objects 
illustrative  of  God's  attributes,  when  they,  by  their  very  /^,) 
numbers,  minimized  divine  dignity.  Their  constant,  visible, 
tangible  presence  to  the  senses  began  not  simply  passively 
to  represent  God,  but  actively  to  personify  Him,  and  Je- 
hovah was  subdivided.  He  was  still  the  great  God ;  but 
these  others  were  given  not  only  a  name,  but  a  personality 
which  shadowed  Him  and  dishonored  Him,  by  admitting  them 
to  fellowship  with  Him,  and  regarding  Him  as  no  longer 
alone  the  great  I  Am.  Though  supreme,  His  supremacy  was 
BDlLexclusive  ;  it  was  comparative.  He  was  over  others,  who 
also  were  gods,  with  whom  He  shared  His  power,  and  to 
whom  was  to  be  given  somewhat  of  His  worship.  He  was 
not  indeed  denied,  but  He  was  dishonored.  He  became  only 
one  of  the  many  gods  along  with  Baal  and  Ashtaroth.  But 
the  worship  of  Him  was  not  abandoned.  He  was  worshipped 
along  with  these  others,  as  One  among  many.  And  finally  V  \ 
polytheism  had  become  the  belief  of  the  world,  except  of  the  -^ ' 
many  scattered  small  communities  which,  with  their  priests  of 
the  Most  High  God,  like  Melchisedek  and  Job,  held  the  true 
light  from  extinction.  "  Jehovah  "  became  a  name  for  the  Deity 
of  a  nation ;  each  nation,  while  reverencing  its  own  god,  not 
denying  power  to  that  of  another  nation.  Man's  little  thought 
was  faying  to  localize  the  Deity  in  its  own  small  tribal  limits. 


46  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Philistia  worshipped  its  Dagon,  but  it  feared  and  made  tres- 
pass offerings  to  Jehovah  of  the  Ark  of  Israel's  Covenant.^ 

Nebuchadnezzar,  startled  by  a  vision  of  a  Son  of  God  in  the 
flame  of  his  fiery  furnace,  in  an  hour  of  repentance  could 
decree  that  the  God  of  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego 
should  not  be  spoken  against.^  This  was  the  second  step  in 
religion's  retrograde  movement.  The  personified  natural 
objects  were  actually  worshipped.  No  longer  considered 
simply  as  representatives  of  God,  they  were  actually  given  a 
part  of  God's  place,  and  were  worshipped  as  God.  The 
prayer  was  not,  "Jehovah,  hear  us,  for  the  sake  of  Baal, 
through  whom  we  plead !  "  nor  "  O  Baal,  present  our  petition 
to  Jehovah  !  "  but,  flatly  and  directly,  "  O  Baal,  hear  us  I " 
Having  reached  in  their  religious  thought  this  position  of 
a  belief  in  many  gods,  it  was  a  natural  and  logical  result  that 
worship  was  to  be  rendered  to  them  all.  The  sacrifices  that 
had  been  offered  to  Jehovah  alone  were  divided  for  service 
,  to  other  gods.  But  it  was  the  same  religious  sentiment,  in 
both  monotheist  and  polytheist,  that  prompted  the  rendei'ing 
j  of  prayer,  sacrifice,  and  other  service.  The  same  sense  of  an 
I "  infinite  dependence  "  that  had  led  arms  of  weak  faith  to  lay 
hold  for  help  on  that  which  was  nearest  and  most  obvious, 
operated  with  the  heathen  who  had  wandered  from  God,  in 
his  petition  to  his  many  gods,  just  as  it  had  operated  originally 
with  the  worshipper  of  the  true  God.  The  sentiment  was 
right,  the  principle  was  good  ;  only,  its  application  was  wrong, 
—  sometimes  fearfully  wrong.  Man's  religious  nature  is  a 
force.  There  are  other  forces  in  nature  that  belong  to  other 
domains  than  religion.  They  are  good  forces  if  well  applied  ; 
they  become  engines  of  destruction  if  misapplied  or  applied  in 
excess. 

In  all  history  no  misapplied  force  has  wrought  more  fearful 
evil  than  the  religious.  It  made  holy  even  the  atrocities  of 
the  Inquisition ;  it  ordained  a  Te  Deum  for  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew's  Day. 

Similarly  mankind  found  not  only  justification  but  propriety 
1  1  Sam.  vi.  3.  2  Dan.  iii.  29. 


POLYTHEISM  — IDOLATRY  47 

in  the  human  sacrifices  to  Moloch,  and  in  the  holocausts  of 
the  Aztec  civilization.  If  in  giving  a  gift  of  thanks,  tribute, 
admiration,  or  fear  to  a  human  friend,  ruler,  or  employer,  we 
choose  that  which  is  good  and  best  in  our  own  eyes,  so  as  to 
win  the  favor  of  the  being  to  whom  it  is  given,  much  more 
would  we  strive  to  please  the  god  in  whose  power  lies  our  life, 
health,  and  prosperity.  It  was  a  logical  result,  therefore,  in 
choosing  for  sacrifice  on  great  emergencies,  to  select  the  best- 
beloved  child.  Moloch  would  be  pleased  and  propitiated  by 
such  a  valuable  gift.  The  more  that  the  human  love  was 
renounced  in  the  agony  of  the  parents'  view  of  their  child's 
dying  struggle,  the  more  favorable  would  be  the  response  toi 
the  worshipper.  Under  this  misapplied  religious  force  an  ■. 
Iphigenia  is  logical,  and  the  Hindu  infant  cast  to  Gunga's 
wave  a  fitting  offering  in  the  agonized  mother's  eyes.  But 
how  fearfully  mistaken !  The  religion  that  recognizes  and 
directs  such  abuse  is  a  "  false  religion,"  as  compared  with 
Christianity ;  not  in  the  sense  that  it  has  nothing  good  in  it, 
but  in  the  falsity,  -of  the  objects  of  its  worship  and  in  the 
cruelty  of  the  rites  employed  in  that  worship.  In  the  genera 
of  the  sciences  there  is  only  one  species  of  religion,  but  that 
one  species  has  many  varieties.  In  this  sense  Calvin  is 
correct  if,  in  speaking  of  the  "  immense  welter  of  errors  "  in 
which  the  whole  world  outside  of  Christianity  is  immersed, 
"  he  regards  his  own  religion  as  the  true  one  and  all  the 
others  were  false."  The  function  of  a  comparative  study  of  i 
i:eligion^  is  to  point  out  the  connecting  line  of  truth  running 
through  the  mass  of  error.  Back  of  all  the  cruelty  and  error 
and  falsity  in  polytheism  lie  the  proper  sense  of  need,  the 
natural  feeling  of  helplessness  in  the  great  emergencies  of 
Hfe,  and  the  commendable  desire  to  honor  the  Being  known 
under  different  names  as  Jehovah,  Moloch,  Jupiter,  Allah, 
Budh,  Brahm,  Odin,  or  Anyambe ;  to  which  Being  His  chil- 
dren all  over  the  world  looked  up  as  the  All-Father.  But 
the  descensus  Averni  from  the  One  living  and  true  God 
soon  multiplied  gods,  dividing  among  many  the  attributes 
that  had  been  centred  in  the  One,  and  finally  carried  man's 


48  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

religious  thought  so  far  from  God  that  only  His  name  was 
retained,  while  the  trust  which  had  belonged  to  Him  alone 
was  scattered  over  a  multitude  of  objects  that  were  not  even 
dignified  with  the  name  "gods."  Worship  of  ancestors  was 
established.  Great  human  benefactors,  heroic  hmnan  beings, 
were  deified  and  canonized.  The  whole  air  of  the  world  be- 
came peopled  with  spiritual  influences ;  literally  "  stocks  and 
stones  "  became  animated  with  demons  of  varying  power  and 
disposition ;  and  fetichism  erected  itself  as  a  kind  of  religion. 

I  see  nothing  to  justify  the  theory  of  Menzies  ^  that  primi- 
tive man  or  the  untutored  African  of  to-day,  in  worshipping 
a  tree,  a  snake,  or  an  idol,  originally  worshipped  those  very 
objects  themselves,  and  that  the  suggestion  that  they  repre- 
sented, or  were  even  the  dwelling-place  of,  some  spiritual 
Being  is  an  after-thought  up  to  which  he  has  grown  in 
the  lapse  of  the  ages.  The  rather  I  see  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  thought  of  the  Being  or  Beings  as  an  object 
of  worship  has  come  down  by  tradition  and  from  direct 
original  revelation  of  Jehovah  Himself.  The  assumption  of 
a  visible,  tangible  object  to  represent  or  personify  that  Being 
is  the  after-thought  that  human  ingenuity  has  added.  The 
civilized  Romanist  claims  that  he  does  not  worship  the  actual 
sign  of  the  cross,  but  the  Christ  who  was  crucified  on  it; 
similarly,  the  Dahomian,  in  his  worship  of  a  snake. 

Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  D.D.,^  says  of  the  condition  of  Dahomy 
fifty  years  ago,  that  in  Africa  "  there  is  no  place  where  there 
is  more  intense  heathenism ;  and  to  mention  no  other  fea- 
ture in  their  superstitious  practices,  the  worship  of  snakes 
at  this  place  [Whydah]  fully  illustrates  this  remark.  A 
house  in  the  middle  of  the  town  is  provided  for  the  exclusive 
'use  of  these  reptiles,  and  they  may  be  seen  here  at  any  time 
in  very  great  numbers.  They  are  fed,  and  more  care  is  taken 
of  them  than  of  the  human  inhabitants  of  the  place.  If  they 
are  seen  straying  away,  they  must  be  brought  back ;  and  at  • 
[the  sight  of  them  the    people  prostrate  themselves  on  the 

1  History  of  Religion,  pp.  129  et  seq. 

2  Western  Africa,  p.  207. 


POLYTHEISM  —  IDOLATRY  49 

gi'ound  and  do  them  all  possible  reverence.  To  kill  or  injure 
one  of  them  is  to  incur  the  penalty  of  death.  On  certain 
occasions  they  are  taken  out  by  the  priests  or  doctors,  and 
paraded  about  the  streets,  the  bearers  allowing  them  to  coil 
themselves  around  their  arms,  necks,  and  bodies.  They  are 
also  employed  to  detect  persons  who  have  been  guilty  of 
witchcraft.  If,  in  the  hands  of  the  priest,  they  bite  the  sus- 
pected person,  it  is  sure  evidence  of  his  guilt ;  and  no  doubt 
the  serpent  is  trained  to  do  the  will  of  his  keeper  in  all  such 
cases.  Images,  usually  called  '  gregrees,'  of  the  most  un- 
couth shape  and  form,  may  be  seen  in  all  parts  of  the  town, 
and  are  worshipped  by  all  classes  of  persons.  Perhaps  there 
is  no  place  in  Africa  where  idolatry  is  more  openly  practised, 
or  where  the  people  have  sunk  into  deeper  pagan  darkness." 

Also,  of  the  people  on  the  southwest  coast  at  Loango : 
"  The  people  of  Loango  are  more  addicted  to  idol  worship 
than  any  other  people  on  the  whole  coast.  They  have 
a  great  many  carved  images  which  they  set  up  in  their  fetich 
houses  and  in  their  private  dwellings,  and  which  they  worship ; 
but  whether  these  images  represent  their  forefathers,  as  is 
the  case  among  the  Mpongwe  (at  Gabun),  is  not  certainly 
known."  ^ 

Having  thus  followed  the  religious  thought  of  mankind  in 
its  divagation  from  monotheistic  worship  of  the  true  God, 
down  through  polytheism  and  idolatrous  sacrifices,  to  the  wor- 
ship of  ancestors,  we  have  reached  a  third  stage,  where  thel 
worship  of  God  is  not  only  divided  between  Him  and  other  i'-jO 
objects,  but,  a  step  beyond,  God  Himself  is  quietly  disregarded, 
and  the  worship  due  Him  is  transferred  to  a  multitude  of 
spiritual  agencies  under  His  power,  but  uncontrolled  by  it. 

The  details  of  this  stage  in  the  religious  worship  known  as 
fetichism  will  be  considered  in  the  following  chapters. 

1  Wilson. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SPIRITUAL   BEINGS   IN  AFRICAN   RELIGION 

THE  belief  in  spiritual  beings  opens  an  immense  vista  of 
the  purely  superstitious  side  of  the  theology  of  Bantu 
African  religion. 

All  the  air  and  the  future  is  peopled  with  a  large  and  indefi- 
nite company  of  these  beings.  The  attitude  of  the  Creator 
(Anyambe)  toward  the  human  race  and  the  lower  animals  being 
that  of  indifference  or  of  positive  severity  in  having  allowed 
evils  to  exist,  and  His  indifference  making  Him  almost  inex- 
orable, cause  effort  in  the  hne  of  worship  to  be  therefore 
directed  only  to  those  spirits  who,  though  they  are  all  prob- 
ably malevolent,  may  be  influenced  and  made  benevolent. 

I.   Origin. 

The  native  thought  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  spirits  is 
vague  ;  necessaril}^  so.  An  unwritten  behef  that  is  not  based 
upon  revelation  from  a  superior  source  nor  on  an  induction 
from  actual  experience  and  observation,  but  that  is  added  to  and 
varied  b}'  every  individual's  fancy,  can  be  expressed  in  defi- 
nite words  only  after  inquiry  among  many  as  to  their  ideas  on 
the  subject.  These,  I  find,  coincide  on  a  few  lines ;  just  as 
the  consensus  of  opinion  on  any  subject  in  any  community  will 
find  itself  running  in  certain  channels,  influenced  by  the  ut- 
terances of  the  stronger  or  wiser  leaders. 

1.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  some  of  the  spirits  seem  to 
have  been  conterminous  with  the  life  of  Paia-Njambi  in  the 
eternities.     An  eternity  past,  impossible  as  it  is  for  any  one  to 


SPIRITUAL   BEINGS   IN   AFRICAN   RELIGION     51 

comprehend,  is  yet  a  thing  tliinkuble  even  with  the  Bantu 
African,  for  he  has  words  to  express  it,  — "  pcke-na-jome," 
ever-and-beyond,  "  taniba-na-ngania,"  unknown-and-secret. 

Away  back   in    that   unknown   time  existed  Paia-Njambi. 
Whence  or  how,  is  not   asked  by  the  natives ;    nor  have  I 
had  any  attempt  even  of  a  reply  to  my  own  inquiries.     He 
simply  existed.     They  are  not  sufficiently  absurd  to  say  that 
He  created  Himself.     To  do  that  He  would  need  to  antedate 
Himself.     I  have  met  none  who  thought  sufficiently  on  the 
subject  to  worry  their  minds,  as  we  in  our  civilization  often 
do,  in  effort  to  go  back  and  back  to  the  unthinkable  point  in 
time  past  when  God  was  not.     Indeed  so  little  is  the  native 
mind  in  the  habit  of  any  such  research  that  I  can  readily  per-    y^  \,  »J 
ceive  how  their  "  We  don't  know  "  could  easily  be  misunder-       ,    . 
stood  by  a  foreign  traveller,  scientist,  or  even  missionary,  as  a       / 
confession   that   "  they  did  not   know   God,"  —  a  statement      >  Jv^ 
which  is   true,  but   not  the    equivalent  of,   or   synonymous  :  \),.v 
with,  that  traveller's  assertion  that  the  native  had  no  idea  of  a 
God.     The  native  thought,  wiser  than  ours,  simply  and  un- 
reasoningly   says,    "  He    is.    He   was."      Conterminous   with 
Him  in  origin  there  may  have  been  some  other  spirits.     I'his 
has  been  said  to  me  by  a  very  few  persons  with  some  hesita- 
tion.    But  if  those  spirits  were  indeed  equal  in  existence  with 
Njambi,  they  were  in  no  respect  equal  to  Him  in  character 
or  power,  and  had  no  hand  in  the  cieation  of  other  beings. 
In   the    Mpongwe   tribe   at   Gabun    one   writer.    Rev.    J.  L. 
Wilson,   D.D.,    fifty  years  ago,   thought    the  belief    existed 
that  "  next  to  God  in  the  government  of  the  world  are  two 
spirits,  one  of  whom,  Onyambe,  is  hateful  and  wicked.     The 
people  seldom  speak  of  Onyambe,  and  always  evince  displeas- 
ure when  the  name  is  mentioned  in  their  presence.     His  in-  V 
fluence  over  the  affairs  of  men,  in  their  estimation,  does  not     \\x    . 
amount  to  much;  and  the  probability  is  that  they  have  no 
very  definite  notions  about  the  real  character  of  this   spirit." 
His  character  would  be  indicated  by  his  name,  O-nj^a-mbe  (He- 
who-is-bad).     This  name  has  sometimes  been  used  by  mission-      y^ 
aries  to  translate  our  word  "  devil.""     Perhaps  the  idea  of  the 


52  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

word   itself  came  from  long-ago  contact   of  this  coast  tribe 
with   foreigners. 

2.  A  second  and  more  recognized  source  of  supply  to  the 
company  of  spirits  is  original  creation  by  Njambi.  While 
this  origin  is  named  by  some,  I  have  not  found  it  believed 
in  to  any  very  great  extent.  Even  those  whom  I  did  find 
believing  it  had  very  vague  ideas  as  to  the  mode  or  object  of 
their  creation.  Of  the  Creation  of  mankind,  and  even  of  the 
Fall,  almost  all  of  the  tribes  have  legends,  more  or  less  dis- 
tinct, and  with  a  modicum  of  truth,  doubtless  derived  from 
traditions  coinciding  with  the  Mosaic  history ;  but  of  a  pre- 
vious creation  of  purely  sj)iritual  beings  I  have  found  no 
legend  nor  well-defined  story.  If  such  specially  created 
spirits  exist  at  all,  their  relation  to  Njambi  is  of  a  very 
shadowy  kind ;  they  are,  indeed,  inferior  to  Him,  and  are  in 
theory  under  His  government  in  the  same  sense  that  human 
beings  are.  But  Njambi,  in  His  far-off  indifference  in  actual 
practice,  does  not  interfere  with  or  control  them  or  their  ac- 
tions. They  are  part  of  the  motley  inhabitants  of  "Njambi's 
Town,"  the  place  of  the  Great  Unknown,  as  also  are  all  the 
other  living  beasts  and  beings  of  creation.  They  also  have 
their  separate  habitat,  and  pursue  their  own  devices,  gener- 
ally malevolent,  with  the  children  of  men. 

3.  But  the  general  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  the  world 
of  spirits  is  peopled  by  the  souls  of  dead  human  beings.  This 
presupposes  a  belief  in  a  future  life,  the  existence  of  which 
in  the  native  mind  some  travellers  have  doubted.  I  have 
never  met  that  doubt  from  the  native  himself.  While  I  do 
not  impute  to  the  travellers  referred  to  any  desire,  in  their 
efforts  at  describing  the  low  grade  of  intelligence  or  religious 
belief  of  certain  tribes,  to  misrepresent,  I  fully  believe  they 
were  mistaken,  their  mistake  arising  from  misunderstanding. 
It  is  not  probable  that  they  met,  in  the  course  of  their  few 
years,  what  I  have  not  met  with  in  a  lifetime.  It  is  probable 
that  natives  had  expressed  to  them  a  doubt,  or  even  igno- 
rance, of  a  general  resurrection,  and  may  have  said  to  them, 
as  a  few  have  said  to  me,  "  No,  we  do  not  live  again ;  we  are 


SPIRITUAL   BEINGS   IN   AFRICAN   RELIGION     53 

like  goats  and  dogs  and  chickens,  —  when  we  die  that  is  the 
end  of  us."  Such  a  statement  is  indeed  a  denial  of  the  res-' 
urrection  of  the  hody,  hut  it  is  not  a  denial  of  a  continued ', 
existence  of  the  soul  in  another  life.  The  very  people  who 
made  the  above  declaration  to  me  preserved  their  family  v. 
fetich,  made  sacrifices  to  the  spirits  of  their  ancestors,  and 
appealed  to  them  for  aid  in  their  family  undertakings.  The 
few  who  have  expressed  a  belief  in  transmigration  did  not 
consider  that  the  residence  of  a  human  spirit  in  the  body  of 
a  beast  was  a  permanent  state ;  it  was  a  temporary  condition, 
assumed  by  the  spirit  voluntarily  for  its  own  pleasure  or  con- 
venience, and  terminable  at  its  own  will,  precisely  as  human 
spirits  during  their  mortal  life  are,  everywhere  and  by  all, 
believed  capable  of  temporarily  deserting  their  own  human 
body  and  controlling  the  actions  of  a  beast.  This  belief  in 
transmigration,  though  not  general,  has  been  found  among 
individuals  in  almost  all  tribes. 

It  being  thus  generally  accepted  that  all  departed  human 
souls  become  spirits  of  that  future  that  is  all  around  us,  there 
is  still  a  difference  in  the  testimony  of  intelligent  witnesses 
as  to  who  and  what,  or  even  how  many,  of  these  souls  are  in 
one  human  being,  (1)  Ordinarily,  the  native  will  say  in 
effect,  "  I  am  one,  and  my  soul  is  also  myself.  When  I  die, 
it  goes  out  somewhere  else."  (2)  Others  will  say,  "I  have 
two  things,  —  one  is  the  thing  that  becomes  a  spirit  when  I 
die,  the  other  is  the  spirit  of  the  body  and  dies  with  it." 
(This  "other"  may  be  only  a  personification  of  what  we 
specif}^  as  the  animal  life.)  But  it  has  frequently  occurred 
that  even  intelligent  natives,  standing  by  me  at  the  side  of 
a  dying  person,  have  said  to  me,  "He  is  dead."  The  patient 
was  indeed  unconscious,  lying  stiff,  not  seeing,  speaking, 
eating,  or  apparently  feeling;  yet  there  was  a  slight  heart- 
beat. I  would  point  out  to  the  relatives  these  evidences  of 
life.  But  they  said :  "  No,  he  is  dead.  His  spirit  is  gone, 
he  does  not  see  nor  hear  nor  feel;  that  slight  movement  is 
only  the  spirit  of  the  body  shaking  itself.  It  is  not  a  person, 
Jt  is  not  our  relative;  he  is  dead."     And  they  began  to  pre- 


54  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

pare  the  body  for  burial.  A  man  actually  came  to  me  on 
Corisco  Island,  in  1863,  asking  me  for  medicine  with  which 
to  kill  or  quiet  the  body-spirit  of  his  mother,  whose  motions 
were  troubling  him  by  preventing  the  funeral  arrangements. 
I  was  shocked  at  what  I  thought  his  attempt  at  matricide, 
but  subsequently  found  that  he  really  did  believe  that  his 
mother  was  dead  and  her  real  soul  gone. 

Such  attempt  to  distinguish  between  soul-life  and  body- 
life  has  not  infrequently  led  to  premature  burial.  The  sup- 
posed corpse  has  sometimes  risen  to  consciousness  on  the  way 
to  the  grave.  A  long-protracted  sickness  of  some  not  very 
valuable  member  of  the  village  has  wearied  the  attendants ; 
they  decide  that  the  body,  though  mumbling  inarticulate 
words  and  aimlessly  fingering  with  its  arms,  is  no  longer 
occupied  by  its  personal  soul ;  that  has  emerged.  "  He  is 
dead  ";  and  they  proceed  to  bury  him  alive.  Yet  they  deny 
that  they  have  done  so.  They  insist  that  he  was  not  alive ; 
only  his  body  was  "moving."  Proof  of  premature  burial  has 
been  found  by  discoveries  made  in  the  practice  of  a  custom 
which  is  observed  when  a  village  has  been  afflicted  with 
various  troubles  after  the  death  of  one  of  its  members.  The 
villagers,  after  ineffectual  efforts  to  drive  away  the  evil  in- 
fluences that  are  supposed  to  cause  these  troubles,  decide 
that  the  spirit  of  some  dead  relative  is  dissatisfied  about 
something,  and  order  the  grave  to  be  opened  and  the  bones 
rearranged  or  even  thrown  into  the  river  or  sea.  On  open- 
ing the  grave,  corpses  that  had  been  buried  in  a  recumbent 
position  have  been  found  in  a  sitting  position.  It  is  possible 
for  one  thus  prematurely  buried  to  change  posture  in  a  dying 
struggle ;  for,  mostly,  heathen  graves  are  shallow,  and  are 
hastily  and  not  always  completely  filled  in. 

(3)  Another  set  of  witnesses  will  say  that,  besides  the  per- 
sonal soul  and  the  soul  of  the  body,  there  is  a  third  entity  in 
the  human  unit,  namely,  a  dream-soul.  That  it  is  which 
leaves  the  body  on  occasions  during  sleep,  and,  wandering 
off,  delights  itself  by  visiting  strange  lands  and  strange 
scenes.      On  its  return  to  the  body  its  union  with  the  mate- 


SPIRITUAL   BEINGS   IN   AFRICAN   RELIGION     55 

liiil  blunts  its  perceptions,  and  the  person,  in  liis  efforts  to 
remember  or  tell  what  he  has  seen,  relates  only  the  vagaries 
of  a  dream,  —  a  psycliological  view  which,  under  the  manipu- 
lation of  a  ready  pen,  could  give  play  to  fantasies  pretty, 
romantic,  not  unreasonable,   and  not  impossible. 

Some  who  are  only  dualists,  nevertheless,  believe  in  the 
wanderings  of  this  so-called  dream-soul,  but  say  that  it  is 
the  personal  soul  itself  that  has  gone  out  and  has  returned. 
Both  dualists  and  trinitarians  add  that  sometimes  in  its  wan- 
derings this  soul  loses  its  way  and  cannot  find  its  body,  its 
material  home;  should  it  never  return,  the  person  will  sicken 
and  die. 

(4)  A  fourth  entity  is  vaguely  spoken  of  by  some  as  a  com- 
ponent part  of  the  human  personality,  by  others  as  separate 
but  closely  associated  from  birth  to  death,  and  called  the  life- 
spirit.  Some  speak  of  it  as  a  civilized  person  speaks  of  a 
guardian  angel.  Regarded  in  that  light,  it  should  not  be 
considered  as  one  of  the  several  kinds  of  souls,  but  as  one  of 
the  various  classes  of  spirits  (which  will  be  discussed  in  a 
subsequent  chapter).  To  it  worship  is  rendered  by  its  pos- 
sessor as  to  other  spirits,  —  a  worship,  however,  different 
from  that  which  is  performed  for  what  are  known  and  used  as 
"familiar  spirits."  Others  speak  of  the  vague  life-spirit  as 
the  "heart."  The  organ  of  our  anatomy  which  we  designate 
by  that  name,  they  call  by  a  word  which  variously  means 
"heart"  or  "feelings,"  much  like  our  old  English  "bowels," 
the  same  word  being  employed  equally  to  designate  a  physi- 
cal organ  and  a  mental  state.  Considering  the  organic  heart 
as  the  seat  (or  a  seat)  of  life,  the  natives  believe  that  b}^ 
witchcraft  a  person  in  health  can  be  deprived  of  his  life-soul, 
or  "  heart  " ;  that  he  will  then  sicken ;  that  the  wizard  or  witch 
feasts  in  his  or  her  magic  orgy  on  this  "heart,"  and  that  the 
person  will  die  if  that  heart  is  not  returned  to  him. 

II.   Number. 

But  whatever  this  human  soul  may  be,  whether  existing  in 
unity,  duality,  trinity,  or  quadruplicity,  all  agree  in  believ- 


66  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

ing  that  h  adds  itself,  on  the  death  of  the  body,  as  another 
to  the  multitudinous  company  of  the  spirit-world.  That 
world  is  all  around  us,  and  does  not  differ  much  in  its  wants 
and  characteristics  from  this  earthly  life,  except  that  it  is 
free  from  some  of  the  limitations  to  which  material  bodies 
are  subject.  In  that  spirit- world  they  require  the  same  food 
as  when  on  earth,  but  consume  only  its  essence ;  the  visible 
substance  remains.  They  are  possessed  of  all  their  human 
passions,  both  bad  and  good.  Men  expect  to  have  their 
wives  with  them  in  that  future,  but  I  have  never  heard 
the  idea  even  named,  that  there  is  procreation  by  spirits  in 
that  after-world.  Not  having  believed  during  this  life  in  a 
system  of  reward  and  punishment,  they  have  no  belief  in 
heaven  or  hell.  All  the  dead  go  to  Njambi's  Town,  and  live 
in  that  new  life  together,  good  and  bad,  as  they  lived  to- 
gether on  earth.  The  "hell"  spoken  of  by  some  of  my 
informants,  I  believe,  is  not  a  native  thought;  it  was 
probably  engrafted  on  the  coast  tribes  by  the  Portuguese 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries  of  three  hundred  years  ago. 

If  therefore  the  spirits  consist  almost  entirely  of  the  souls 
of  departed  human  beings,  how  immense  their  number! 
Equal  in  number  with  all  the  dead  that  have  passed  from 
this  life  in  the  ages  gone  by,  excepting  those  who  have  gone 
permanently  into  the  bodies  of  new  human  beings.  That 
form  of  metempsychosis  is  believed  in.  Occasional  instances 
of  belief  of  transmigration  into  the  body  of  a  lower  animal 
do  not  necessarily  include  the  idea  of  a  permanent  residence 
there,  or  that  the  departed  soul  has  lost  its  personality  as  a 
human  being  and  has  become  the  soul  of  a  beast. 

But  the  idea  of  reappearance  in  the  body  of  a  newly  born 
child  was  formerly  believed  in,  especially  in  regard  to  white 
people.  Thirty  years  ago  I  wrote :^  "Down  the  swift  cur- 
rent of  the  Benita,  as  of  other  rivers  on  the  coast,  are  swept 
floating  islands  of  interlaced  rushes,  tangled  vines,  and  water- 
lilies  that,  clinging  to  some  projecting  log  from  the  marshy 
bank,  had  gathered  the  sand  and  mud  of  successive  freshets, 

1  Crowned  in  Palmland,  p.  234. 


i 


SPIRITUAL   BEINGS   IN   AFRICAN   RELIGION     57 

and  gave  a  precarious  footing  for  the  pandanus,  whose  wiry- 
roots  bound  all  in  one  compact  mass.  Then  some  flood  had 
torn  that  mass  away,  and  the  pandanus  still  waving  its  lonf, 
hayonet-like  leaves,  convolvuli  still  climbing  and  blooming, 
and  birds  still  nesting  trustfully,  the  floating  island  glided 
past  native  eyes  down  the  stream,  out  over  the  bar,  and  on 
toward  the  horizon  of  broad  ocean.  What  beyond?  Native 
superstition  said  that  at  the  bottom  of  the  '  great  sea '  was 
'  whiteman's  land  ' ;  that  thither  some  of  their  own  departed 
friends  found  their  happy  future,  exchanging  a  dusky  skin 
for  a  white  one;  that  there  white  man's  magic  skill  at  will 
created  the  beads,  and  cloth,  and  endless  wealth  that  came 
from  that  unknown  land  in  ships,  in  whose  masts  and  rig- 
ging and  sails  were  recognized  the  transformed  trees  and 
vines  and  leaves  of  those  floating  islands.  When  on  the 
12th  of  July,  1866,  a  few  with  bated  breath  came  to  look  on 
my  little  new-born  Paull,  the  only  white  child  most  of  the 
community  had  seen,  and  the  first  born  in  that  Benita  region, 
the  old  people  said,  'Now  our  hopes  are  dead.  Dying, 
we  had  hoped  to  become  like  you;  but  verily  ye  are  born 
as  we. '  " 

Not  long  after  I  had  arrived  at  Corisco  Island  in  1861  I 
observed  among  the  many  people  who  came  to  see  the  new 
missionary  one  man  who  quietly  and  unobtrusively  but  very 
steadily  was  gazing  at  me.  After  a  while  he  mustered 
courage  and  addressed  me:  "Are  you  not  my  brother,  — my 
brother  who  died  at  such  a  time,  and  went  to  White  Man's 
Land?"  I  was  at  that  time  new  to  the  superstitions  of  the 
country;  his  meaning  had  to  be  explained  to  me.  His 
thought  of  relationship  was  not  an  impossible  one,  for  many 
of  the  Bantu  Negroes  have  somewhat  Caucasian-like  featui-es. 
I  have  often  seen  men  and  women  at  the  sight  of  whom  I  was 
surprised,  and  I  would  remark  to  a  fellow-missionary:  "How 
much  this  person  reminds  me  of  So-and-so  in  America ! " 
This  recognition  of  resemblance  of  features  to  white  pereons 
living  in  America  was  the  third  step  in  my  acquaintance 
with  native  faces.     At  first,  all  Negro  faces  looked  alike. 


58  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Presently  I  learned  differences ;  and  when  I  had  reached  the 
third  step,  I  felt  that  my  acquaintance  with  African  features 
was  complete. 

III.    Locality. 

The  locality  of  these  spirits  is  not  only  vaguely  in  the  sur- 
rounding air;  they  are  also  localized  in  prominent  natural 
objects,  —  caves,  enormous  rocks,  hollow  trees,  dark  forests, 
—  in  this  respect  reminding  one  of  classic  fauns  and  dryads. 
While  all  have  the  ability  to  move  from  place  to  place,  some 
especially  belong  to  certain  localities  which  are  spoken  of  as 
having,  as  the  case  might  be,  "good"  or  "bad"  spirits.  It 
is  possible  for  a  human  soul  (as  already  mentioned  in  this 
chapter)  to  inhabit  the  body  of  a  beast.  A  man  whose  plan- 
tation was  being  devastated  near  Benita  by  an  elephant  told 
me,  in  1867,  he  did  not  dare  to  shoot  it,  because  the  spirit 
of  his  lately  deceased  father  had  passed  into  it.  Also  a  com- 
mon objurgation  of  an  obstreperous  child  or  animal  is,  "  O 
na  nyemba!  "   (Thou  hast  a  witch.) 

Their  habitats  may  be  either  natural  or  acquired.  Natural 
ones  are,  for  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  in  a  very  special  sense, 
the  villages  where  they  had  dwelt  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
body;  but  the  presence  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead  is  not  de- 
sired. It  is  one  of  the  pitiable  effects  of  African  superstition 
that  its  subjects  look  with  fear  and  dread  on  wliat  the  deni- 
zens of  civilization  look  with  love  and  tender  regret.  We  in 
our  Christian  civilization  cling  to  the  lifeless  forms  of  our  dead ; 
and  when  necessity  compels  us  to  bury  them  from  our  sight, 
we  bid  memory  call  up  every  lineament  of  face  and  tone  of 
voice,  and  are  pleased  to  think  that  sometimes  they  are  near 
us.  But  it  is  a  frequent  native  practice  that  on  the  occasion 
of  a  death,  even  while  a  portion  of  the  family  are  wailing 
and  to  all  appearances  passionately  mourning  the  loss  of  their 
relative,  others  are  firing  guns,  blowing  trumpets,  beating 
drums,  shouting  and  yelling,  in  order  to  drive  away  from  the 
village  the  recently  disembodied  spirit.  On  consideration,  it 
can  be  seen  that  these  two  diverse  demonstrations  are  sincere. 


SPIRITUAL   BEINGS    IN   AFRICAN   RELIGION     59 

consistent,  and,  to  the  natives,  reasonable.  With  natural  affec- 
tion they  mourn  the  absence  of  a  tangible  j^erson  who,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  their  family,  was  helpful  and  even  kind ;  while  tliey  fear 
the  independent  existence  of  the  invisible  thing,  whose  union 
with  the  physical  body  they  fail  to  recognize  as  having  been 
a  factor  in  that  heljifulness  and  kindness,  'i'his  departed 
spirit,  joining  the  company  of  other  departed  spirits,  will 
indeed  become  an  object  of  worship,  —  a  worship  of  princi-  y 
pally  a  deprecatory  nature;  but  its  continued  presence  andf 
immediate  contact  with  its  former  routine  are  not  desired. 
In  Mashonaland  the  native  fears  death  by  accident  or  human 
enmity.  "But  a  greater  dread  than  this  is  of  a  visitation  of 
evil  by  the  spirit  of  a  departed  friend  or  relative  whom  he 
may  have  slighted  while  living." 

A  village  in  Nazareth  Bay,  the  embouchure  of  one  of  the 
mouths  of  the  Ogowe  River,  is  called  "  Abun-awiri  "  ("  awiri, " 
plural  of  "ombwiri,"  a  certain  class  of  spirits,  and  "abuna," 
abundance). 

;  Large,  prominent  trees  are  inhabited  by  spirits.  Many 
(trees  in  the  equatorial  West  African  forest  throw  out  from 
their  trunks,  at  from  ten  to  sixteen  feet  from  the  ground, 
solid  buttresses  continuous  with  the  body  of  the  tree  itself, 
only  a  few  inches  in  thickness,  but  in  width  at  the  base  of 
the  tree  from  four  to  six  feet.  These  buttresses  are  pro- 
jected toward  several  opposite  points  of  the  compass,  as  if 
to  resist  the  force  of  sudden  wind-storms.  They  are  a  notice- 
able forest  feature  and  are  commonly  seen  in  the  silk-cotton 
Jtrees.  The  recesses  between  them  are  actually  used  as  lairs 
jby  small  wild  animals.  They  are  supposedly  also  a  favorite 
[home  of  the  spirits. 

Caverns  and  large  rocks  have  their  special  spirit  inhabi- 
tants. At  Gabun,  and  also  on  Corisco  Island,  geological 
breaks  in  the  horizontal  strata  of  rock  were  filled  by  narrow 
vertical  strata  of  limestone,  between  which  water  action  has 
worn  away  the  softer  rock,  leaving  the  limestone  walls  iso- 
lated, with  a  narrow  ravine  between  them.  These  ravines 
were  formerly  reverenced  as  the  abodes  of  spirits. 


60  FETICHISM    IN   WEST   AFRICA 

When  I  made  a  tour  in  1882,  surveying  for  a  second 
Ogowe  Station,  I  came  some  seventy  miles  up  river  from  ray 
well-established  first  station,  Kangwe,  at  Lambarene,  to  an 
enormous  rock,  a  granite  boulder,  lying  in  the  bed  of  the 
river.  The  adjacent  hillsides  on  either  bank  of  the  river 
were  almost  impassable,  being  covered  with  boulders  of  all 
sizes,  and  a  heavy  forest  growing  in  among  and  even  on 
them.  This  great  rock  had  evidently  in  the  long  past  be- 
come detached  by  torrential  streams  that  scored  the  mountain- 
side in  the  heavy  rainy  season  and  had  plunged  to  its  present 
position.  The  swift  river  current  swirled  and  dashed  against 
the  huge  obstruction  to  navigation,  making  the  ascent  of  the 
river  at  that  point  particularly  difficult.  Superstition  sug- 
gested that  the  spirits  of  the  rock  did  not  wish  boats  or 
canoes  to  pass  their  abode.  Nevertheless,  necessities  of  trade 
compelled ;  and  crews  in  passing  made  an  e jaculatory  prayer, 
or  doffed  their  head  coverings,  in  respect,  but  with  the  fear 
that  the  "  ascent "  in  that  part  of  the  journey  might  be  for 
"woe,"  whence  they  called  the  rock  " Itala-ja-maguga, " 
which,  contracted  to  "Talaguga,"  I  gave  as  a  name  to  my 
new  station,  erected  in  1882  in  the  vicinity  of  the  rock. 
During  my  eight  subsequent  years  at  the  station  I  did,  in- 
deed, meet  with  some  "woe,"  but  also  much  weal.  And  the 
missionary  work  of  Talaguga,  carried  on  since  1892  by  the 
hands  of  the  Soci^t^  Evangelique  de  Paris,  has  met  with 
signal  success. 

Capes,  promontories,  and  other  prominent  points  of  land 
are  favorite  dwelling-places  of  the  spirits.  The  Ogowe 
River,  some  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  its  mouth, 
receives  on  its  left  bank  a  large  affluent,  the  Ngunye,  coming 
from  the  south.  The  low  point  of  land  at  the  junction  of  the 
two  rivers  was  sacred.  The  riverine  tribes  themselves  would 
pass  it  in  canoes,  respectfully  removing  their  head  coverings ; 
but  passage  was  forbidden  to  coast  tribes  and  other  foreigners. 
Portuguese  slave-traders  might  come  to  the  point;  but,  stop- 
ping there,  they  could  trade  beyond  only  through  the  hands  of 
the  local  tribe  (evidently  superstition  had  been  invoked  to 


SPIRITUAL   BEINGS   IN   AFRICAN   RELIGION    61 

protect  a  trade  monopoly).  A  certain  trader,  Mr.  R.  B.  N. 
Walker,  agent  for  the  English  firm  of  Hatton  &  Cookson, 
headquarters  at  Libreville,  Gabun,  in  extending  his  com- 
mercial interests  some  forty  years  ago,  made  an  overland 
journey  from  the  Gabun  River,  emerging  on  the  Ogowe, 
on  its  right  bank,  above  that  sacred  point.  Ranoke,  chief  of 
the  Inenga  tribe,  a  few  miles  below,  seized  him,  his  porters, 
and  his  goods,  and  kept  them  prisoners  for  several  months. 
Mr.  Walker  succeeded  in  bribing  a  native  to  carry  a  letter 
to  the  French  Commandant  at  Libreville,  who  was  pleased 
to  send  a  gunboat  to  the  rescue.  Incidentally  it  furnished  a 
good  opportunity  to  demonstrate  France's  somewhat  shadowy 
claim  to  the  Ogowe.  After  the  rescue  a  company  from  the 
gunboat  proceeded  to  the  Point  and  lunched  there,  thus 
effectually  desecrating  it.  Mr.  Walker  made  peace  with  his 
late  captor,  and  established  a  trading-station  at  the  Inenga 
village,  Lambarene.  For  years  afterward,  natives  still  looked 
upon  that  Point  with  respect.  My  own  crew  in  1874 
sometimes  doffed  their  hats;  but  before  I  left  the  Ogowe 
in  1891,  a  younger  generation  had  grown  up  that  was  willing 
to  camp  and  eat  and  sleep  there  with  me,  on  my  boat  journeys. 

Graveyards,  of  course,  are  homes  of  sjjirits,  and  therefore  ' 
are  much  dreaded.  The  tribes,  especially  of  the  interior, 
differ  very  much  as  to  burial  customs.  Some  bury  only  their 
chiefs  and  other  prominent  men,  casting  away  corpses  of 
slaves  or  of  the  poor  into  the  rivers,  or  out  on  the  open 
ground,  perhaps  covering  them  with  a  bundle  of  sticks; 
even  when  graves  are  dug  they  are  shallow.  Some  tribes 
fearlessly  bury  their  dead  under  the  clay  floors  of  their  houses, 
or  a  few  yards  distant  in  the  kitchen-garden  generally  ad- 
joining. But,  by  most  tribes  who  do  bury  at  all,  there  are  \ 
chosen  as  cemeteries  dark,  tangled  stretches  of  forest,  along 
river  banks  on  ground  that  is  apt  to  be  inundated  or  whose 
soil  is  not  good  for  plantation  purposes.  I  had  often  observed, 
in  my  earlier  African  years,  such  stretches  of  forest  along 
the  river,  and  wondered  why  the  people  did  not  use  them  for 
cultivation,  being  conveniently  near  to  some  village,  while 


62  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

they  would  go  a  much  longer  distance  to  make  their  planta- 
tions. The  explanation  was  that  these  were  graveyards. 
Such  stretches  would  extend  sometimes  for  a  mile  or  two. 
Often  my  hungry  meal  hour  on  a  journey  happened  to  coincide 
with  our  passing  just  such  a  piece  of  forest,  and  the  crew 
would  refuse  to  stop,  keeping  themselves  and  myself  hungry 
till  we  could  arrive  at  more  open  forest. 

In  Eastern  Africa  it  is  believed  that  "the  dead  in  their 
turn  become  spirits  under  the  all-embracing  name  of  Mu- 
simo.  The  Wanyamwezi  hold  their  Musimo  in  great  dread 
and  veneration,  as  well  as  the  house,  hut,  or  place  where  their 
body  has  died."  ^ 

Beyond  the  regularly  recognized  habitats  of  the  spirits  that 
may  be  called  "  natural "  to  them,  any  other  location  may  be 
acquired  by  them  temporarily,  for  longer  or  shorter  periods, 
under  the  power  of  the  incantations  of  the  native  doctor 
(uganga).  By  his  magic  arts  any  spirit  may  be  localized  ii? 
any  object  whatever,  however  small  or  insignificant;  and, 
while  thus  limited,  is  under  the  control  of  the  doctor  and 
'subservient  to  the  wishes  of  the  possessor  or  wearer  of  the 
material  object  in  which  it  is  thus  confined.  This  constituted 
a  "fetich,"  which  will  be  more  fully  discussed  in  anothel 
chapter. 

IV.    Characteristics. 

The  characteristics  of  these  spirits  are  much  the  same  a? 
those  they  possessed  before  they  were  disembodied.  The_y 
jhave  most  of  the  evil  human  passions,  e.  g.^  anger  and  re- 
venge, and  therefore  may  be  malevolent.  But  they  posses^ 
also  the  good  feelings  of  generosity  and  gratitude ;  they  are 
therefore  within  reach  of  influence,  and  may  be  benevolent. 
'  Their  possible  malevolence  is  to  be  deprecated,  their  anger 
placated,   their  aid  enlisted. 

Illustration  of  malevolence  in  their  character  has  already 
been  seen  in  the  dread  connected  with  deaths  and  funerals. 
The  similar  dread  of   graveyards  in  our   civilized  countries 

'  1  Decle. 


SPIRITUAL   BEINGS   IN   AFRICAN   RELIGION     63 

may  rest  on  the  fear  inspired  by  what  is  mysterious  or  by  those 
who  have  passed  to  the  unknown,  simply  because  it  and  they 
are  unknown.  But,  to  superstitious  Africa,  that  unknown  is 
a  certainty,  in  that  it  is  a  source  of  evil;  the  s[)irit  of  the 
departed  has  all  the  capacity  for  evil  it  possessed  while 
embodied,  with  the  additional  capacity  that  its  exemption 
from  some  of  the  limitations  of  time  and  space  increases  its 
facilities  for  action.  Being  unseen,  it  can  act  at  immensely 
greater  advantage  for  accomplishing  a  given  purpose.  Natives 
dying  have  gone  into  the  other  world  retaining  an  acute 
memory  of  some  wrong  inflicted  on  them  by  fellow-villagers, 
and  have  openly  said,  "  From  that  other  world  I  will  come 
back  and  avenge  myself  on  you!  " 

In  any  contest  of  a  human  being  against  these  spirits  of 
evil  he  knows  always  that  whatever  influence  he  may  obtain 
over  them  by  the  doctor's  magic  aid,  or  whatever  limitations 
may  thus  be  put  on  them,  they  can  never,  as  in  the  case  of  a 
human  enemy,  be  killed.     The  spirits  can  never  die. 

Sometimes  the  word  "  dead  "  is  used  of  a  fetich  amulet  that 
has  been  inhabited  by  a  spirit  conjured  into  it  by  a  native 
doctor.  The  phrase  does  not  mean  that  its  spirit  is  actually 
dead,  but  that  it  has  fled  from  inside  of  the  fetich,  and  still 
lives  elsewhere.  Then  the  native  doctor,  to  explain  to  his 
patient  or  client  the  inefficacy  of  the  charm,  says  that  the||^' 
cause  of  the  spirit's  escape  and  flight  is  that  the  wearer  has 
failed  to  observe  all  the  directions  which  liad  been  given,  and 
the  spirit  was  displeased.  The  dead  amulet  is,  neverthe- 
less, available  for  sale  to  the  curio-hunting  foreigner. 


^ 


,*>-' 


CHAPTER  V 

SPIRITUAL  BEINGS   IN   AFRICA— THEIR  CLASSES 
AND    FUNCTIONS 

INEQUALITIES  among  the  spirits  themselves,  though 
they  are  so  great,  indicate  no  more  than  simple  differen- 
tiations of  character  or  work.  Yet  so  radical  are  these  vari- 
eties, and  so  distinct  the  names  applied  to  them,  that  I  am 
compelled  to  recognize  a  division  into  classes. 

Classes  and  Functions. 

1.  Inina,  or  Hitia.  A  human  embodied  soul  is  spoken  of 
and  fully  believed  in  by  all  the  tribes.  It  is  known  in  the 
Mpongwe  tribes  of  the  Gabun  country  as  "  inina  "  (plural, 
"  anina  ")  ;  in  the  adjacent  Benga  tribe,  as  "  ilina  "  (plural, 
"  malina")  ;  in  the  great  interior  Fang  tribes,  as  "nsisim." 

This  animating  soul,  whether  it  be  only  one,  or  whether  it 
appear  in  two,  three,  or  even  four  forms,  is  practically  the 
same,  that  talks,  hears,  and  feels,  that  sometimes  goes  out 
of  the  body  in  a  dream,  and  that  exists  as  a  spirit  after  the 
death  of  the  body.  That  it  has  its  own  especial  materiality 
seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  the  Fang,  Bakele, 
and  other  tribes  the  same  word  "  nsisim  "  means  not  only  soul 
but  also  shadow.  The  shadow  of  a  tree  or  any  other  inani- 
mate object  and  of  the  human  body  as  cast  by  the  sun  is 
"  nsisim. " 

In  my  first  explorations  up  the  Ogowe  River,  in  1874,  as  in 
my  village  preaching  I  necessarily  and  constantly  spoke  of  our 
soul,  its  sins,  its  capacity  for  suffering  or  happiness,  and  its 
relation  to  its  divine  Maker,  I  was  often  at  a  loss  how  to 


CLASSES  AND   FUNCTIONS   OF   SPIRITS      65 

make  my  thoughtless  audience  understand  or  appreciate  that 
the  nsisim  of  which  I  was  speaking  was  not  the  nsisim 
cast  by  the  sun  as  a  darkish  Hne  on  the  ground  near  their 
bodies.  Even  to  those  who  understood  me,  it  was  not  an 
impossible  thought  that  that  dark  narrow  belt  on  the  ground 
was  in  some  way  a  part  of,  or  a  mode  of  manifestation  of,  that 
other  thing,  the  nsisim,  which  they  admitted  was  the  source  of 
the  body's  animation.  So  far  defined  was  that  thought  with 
some  of  them  that  they  said  it  was  a  possible  thing  for  a 
human  being  to  have  his  nsisim  stolen  or  otherwise  lost,  and 
still  exist  in  a  diseased  and  dying  state ;  in  which  case  his 
body  would  not  cast  a  shadow.  Von  Chamisso's  story  of 
Peter  Schlemehl,  "  the  man  who  lost  his  shadow,"  in  actuality  ! 

So  few  are  the  special  activities  by  wliich  to  distinguish 
anina  from  other  classes  of  spirits,  that  I  might  doubt  whether 
they  should  properly  be  considered  as  distinct,  were  it  not 
true  that  the  anina  are  all  of  them  embodied  spirits ;  none 
of  them  are  of  other  origin.  As  disembodied  spirits,  retaining 
memory  of  their  former  human  relationships,  they  have  an 
interest  in  human  affairs,  and  especially  in  the  affairs  of  the 
family  of  which  they  were  lately  members. 

2.  Ibamho  (Mpongwe ;  plural,  "abambo").  There  are 
vague  beings,  "  abambo,"  which  may  well  be  described  by  our 
word  "  ghosts."  Where  they  come  from  is  not  certainly 
known,  or  what  locality  they  inhabit,  except  that  they  belong 
to  the  world  of  spirits.  Why  they  become  visible  is  also  un- 
known. They  are  not  called  for,  they  are  only  occasionally 
worshipped  ;  their  epiphany  is  dreaded,  not  reverenced, 

"  The  term  '  abambo '  is  in  the  plural  form,  and  may 
therefore  be  regarded  as  forming  a  class  of  spirits  instead 
of  a  single  individual.  They  are  the  spirits  of  dead  men ; 
but  whether  they  are  positively  good  or  positively  evil,  to 
be  loved  or  to  be  hated,  or  to  be  courted  or  avoided,  are 
points  which  no  native  of  the  country  can  answer  satisfac- 
torily. Abambo  are  the  spirits  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
people  of  a  tribe  or  race,  as  distinguished  from  the  spirits 
of   strangers.     These   are   the   spirits   with   which  men   are 

5 


66  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

possessed,  and  there  is  no  end  to  the  ceremonies  used  to 
deliver  them  from  their  power."  ^ 

The  ibambo  may  appear  anywhere  and  at  any  time  and  to 
anybody,  but  it  has  no  message.  It  rarely  speaks.  Its 
most  common  effect  on  human  lives  is  to  frighten.  It  flits  ; 
it  does  not  remain  in  one  spot,  to  speak  or  to  be  spoken  to. 
Indistinctly  seen,  its  appearances  are  reported  as  occurring 
mostly  in  dark  places,  in  shadows,  in  twilight,  and  on  dark 
nights.  The  most  common  apparitions  are  on  lonely  paths 
in  the  forest  by  night. 

To  all  intents  and  purposes  these  abambo  are  what  super- 
stitious fears  in  our  civilization  call  "  ghosts."  The  timid 
dweller  in  civilization  can  no  more  tell  us  what  that  ghost  is 
than  can  the  ignorant  African.  It  is  as  difficult  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other  to  argue  against  the  unreal  and  unknown. 
What  the  frightened  eye  or  ear  believes  it  saw  or  heard,  it 
persists  in  believing  against  all  proof.  Nor  will  ridicule  make 
the  belief  less  strong.  However,  the  intelligent  child  in  civ- 
ilization, under  the  hand  of  a  judicious  parent  or  other  friend, 
and  relying  on  love  as  an  expounder,  can  be  led  to  understand 
by  daylight,  that  the  white  bark  of  a  tree  trunk  shimmering 
in  uncertain  moonlight,  or  a  wliite  garment  flapping  in  the 
wind,  or  a  white  animal  grazing  in  the  meadow,  was  the  ghost 
whose  waving  form  had  scared  him  the  night  before.  His 
superstition  is  not  so  ingrained  by  daily  exercise  but  that 
reason  and  love  can  divest  him  of  it.  But  to  the  denizen  of 
P'etich-land  superstition  is  religion ;  the  night  terror  which 
he  is  sure  he  saw  is  too  real  a  thing  in  his  life  to  be  identified 
by  day  as  only  a  harmless  white-barked  tree  or  quartz  rock. 

3.  A  third  class  of  spirits  is  represented  by  the  name 
Omhtviri.  The  "  ombwiri "  (Mpongwe;  plural,  "awiri") 
is  certainly  somewhat  local,  and  in  this  respect  might  be  re- 
garded as  akin  to  the  ancient  fauns  and  dryads,  with  a  sugges- 
tion of  a  likeness  to  the  spirits  resident  in  the  dense  oak  groves 
and  the  massive  stones  of  the  Druid  Circle.  But  the  awiri 
are  more  than  dryads.     They  are  not  confined  to  their  local 

1  J.  L.  Wilson. 


CLASSES   AND   FUNCTIONS   OF   SPIRITS      67 

rock,  tree,  bold  promontory,  or  point  of  land,  trespass  on  which 
by  human  beings  they  resent.  The  traveller  must  go  by 
silently,  or  with  some  cabalistic  invocation,  with  bowed  or 
bared  head,  and  with  some  offering,  —  anything,  even  a  pebble. 
On  the  beach,  as  I  bend  to  pass  beneath  an  enormous  tree 
fallen  across  the  pathway,  I  observe  the  upper  side  of  the  log 
covered  with  votive  offerings,  —  pebbles,  shells,  leaves,  etc.,  — 
laid  there  by  travellers  as  they  stooped  to  pass  under.  Such 
votive  collections  may  be  seen  on  many  spots  along  the  forest 
paths,  deposited  there  by  the  natives  as  an  invocation  of  a 
blessing  on  their  journey. 

*'  The  derivation  of  the  word  '  Ombwiri '  is  not  known.  As 
it  is  used  in  the  plural  as  well  as  in  the  singular  form,  it  no 
doubt  represents  a  class  or  family  of  spirits.  He  is  regarded 
as  a  tutelar  or  guardian  spirit.  Almost  every  man  has  his 
own  ombwiri,  for  which  he  provides  a  small  house  near 
his  own.  All  the  harm  that  he  has  escaped  in  this  world, 
and  all  the  good  secured,  are  ascribed  to  the  kindly  offices 
of  this  guaixiian  spirit.  Ombwiri  is  also  regarded  as  the 
author  of  everything  in  the  world  which  is  marvellous  or 
mysterious.  Any  remarkable  feature  in  the  pliysical  aspect 
of  the  country,  any  notable  phenomenon  in  the  heavens,  or 
extraordinary  events  in  the  affairs  of  men  are  ascribed  to 
Ombwiri.  His  favorite  places  of  abode  are  the  summits  of 
high  mountains,  deep  caverns,  large  rocks,  and  the  base  of 
very  large  forest  trees.  And  while  the  people  attach  no 
malignity  to  his  character,  they  carefully  guard  against  all 
unnecessary  familiarity  in  their  intercourse  with  him,  and 
never  pass  a  place  where  he  is  supposed  to  dwell  except  in 
silence.  He  is  the  only  one  of  all  the  spirits  recognized  by 
the  people  that  has  no  priesthood ;  his  intercourse  with  men 
being  direct  and  immediate."  ^ 

These  spirits  are  sometimes  spoken  of  with  the  nkinda 
and  olag^  (Mpongwe  ;  plural,  "  ilaga  ").  They  all  come  from 
the  spirits  of  the  dead.  These  several  names  indicate  a  dif- 
ference as  to  kind  or  class  of  spirit,  and  a  difference  in  the 

1  J.  L.  Wilson. 


68  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

work  or  functions  they  are  called  upon  to  exercise.  The  iMga 
are  spirits  of  strangers,  and  have  come  from  a  distance. 

While  the  ombwiri  is  indeed  feared,  it  is  with  a  respectful 
reverence,  different  from  the  di'ead  of  an  ibambo.  Ombwiri 
is  fine  and  admirable  in  aspect,  but  is  very  rarely  seen ;  it  is 
white,  like  a  white  person.  Souls  of  distinguished  chiefs 
and  other  great  men  turn  to  awiri.  The  fear  with  which  the 
native  regards  massive  rocks  and  large  trees  —  the  ombwiri 
homes  —  need  not  be  felt  by  white  people,  who  are  them- 
selves considered  awiri,  without  its  being  clearly  understood 
whether  their  bodies  are  inhabited  by  the  departed  spirits  of 
the  Negro  dead,  or  whether  some  came  from  other  sources. 

The  awiri  are  generally  favorably  disposed,  especially  to 
their  former  human  relatives ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  gratify 
them  with  religious  services  constituting  an  ancestral  wor- 
ship. While  some  of  them  reside  in  great  rocks  or  trees, 
others  dwell  in  rivers,  lakes,  and  seas. 

Awiri,  if  they  love  a  person  and  desire  to  favor  him  or 
her,  have  the  special  power  to  grant  a  gift  desired  by  most 
Africans,  viz.,  the  birth  of  children.  The  awiri  live  mostly 
in  the  region  of  their  own  former  human  tribe.  It  is  pos- 
sible, however,  for  them  to  go  everywhere  ;  but  they  usually 
remain  within  their  old  tribal  limits.  If,  however,  a  tribe 
should  remove  or  become  extinct,  their  awiri  would  still 
remain  in  that  region,  and  would  affiliate  with  the  new  people 
who  might  come  to  occupy  the  deserted  village  sites. 

Awiri  have  a  period  of  inactivity,  the  cold  dry  season  of 
four  months  (in  western  Equatorial  Africa),  May  to  Sep- 
tember. At  that  time  they  become  very  small,  inactive,  and 
almost  lifeless  (a  condition  of  hibernation,  somewhat  like 
that  of  bears;  or  of  inertia,  as  when  a  snake  casts  its  skin?). 

4.  There  is  another  class  of  spirits  called  Sinkinda  (sin- 
gular, "nkinda"),  some  of  whom  are  the  spirits  of  people 
who  in  the  ordinary  stations  of  life  were  "  common,"  or  not 
distinguished  for  greatness  or  goodness.  Others  of  these  sin- 
kinda are  of  uncertain  origin,  perhaps  demons  whom  Njambi 
had  created,  but  to  whom  He  had  never  given  bodily  existence. 


CLASSES   AND   FUNCTIONS   OF   SPIRITS       69 

Almost  all  sinkinda  are  evilly  disposed.  They  come  to 
the  villages  on  visits  to  warm  themselves  by  the  kitchen  fires 
or  out  of  curiosity  to  see  what  is  going  on,  and  sometimes, 
temporarily,  to  enter  into  the  bodies  of  the  living,  especially 
of  their  own  family.  The  entrance  of  a  nkinda  into  a 
human  body  always  sickens  the  person.  It  may  enter  any 
one,  even  a  child.  If  many  of  them  enter  a  man's  body,  he 
becomes  crazy. 

Sometimes  the  nkinda,  when  asked  who  he  is,  says :  "  I  am 
a  spirit  of  a  member  of  your  own  family,  and  I  have  come  to 
live  with  you.  I  am  tired  of  living  in  the  forest  with  cold 
and  hunger.     I  wish  to  stay  with  you." 

Often  when  people  are  sick  with  fever  or  cold,  the  diagnosis 
is  made  that  some  nkinda  has  come  on  a  visit.  If  it  is  of  the 
same  family  as  those  whom  it  is  visiting,  it  comes  and  goes 
from  time  to  time,  to  please  itself ;  but  it  is  never,  like  an 
uvengwa,  visible. 

Sometimes  these  sinkinda  are  called  "  ivavi "  (sing.  "  ovavi," 
messenger).  They  come  from  far  and  bring  news,  e.  g.,  "  An 
epidemic  of  disease  is  coming,"  or  "  A  ship  is  coming  with 
wealth."  Sometimes  the  news  thus  brought  proves  true. 
(Is  this  our  modern  spiritualism?  )  In  such  cases  the  coming 
of  the  nkinda  is  regarded  as  a  blessing,  in  that  it  warns  the 
living  of  evil  or  brings  them  wealth.  The  information  is  al- 
ways carried  by  the  mouth  of  some  living  member  of  the  family. 
If  these  sinkinda  are  asked  by  a  non-possessed  member  of  the 
family,  "  Where  do  you  live  ? "  the  reply  is,  "  Nowhere  in 
particular.  But  at  evenings  we  gather  about  your  town,  to 
see  you  and  join  in  your  dances  and  songs.  We  see  you, 
though  you  do  not  see  us." 

5.  Mondi.  There  are  beings,  "  myondi  "  (Benga ;  singular, 
"  mondi "),  who  are  agents  in  causing  sickness  or  in  either 
aiding  or  hindering  human  plans.  These  spirits  are  much  the 
same  as  those  of  the  fourth  class,  except  that  in  power  they 
seem  to  be  more  independent  than  other  spirits.  But  they 
are  not  always  simply  passive  in  the  hands  of  the  doctor; 
they  are  often  active  on  their  own  account,  or  at  their  own 


70  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

pleasure,  generally  to  injure.  They  are  worshipped  almost 
always  in  a  deprecatory  way.  They  often  take  violent  pos- 
session of  human  bodies ;  and  for  their  expulsion  it  is  that  ilaga, 
sinkinda,  and  awiri  are  invoked.  They  are  invoked  especially 
at  the  new  moons,  but  also  at  other  times,  particularly  in 
sickness.  The  native  oganga  decides  whether  or  no  they  be 
myondi  that  are  afflicting  the  patient.  When  the  diagnosis 
has  been  made,  and  myondi  declared  to  be  present  in  the  pa- 
tient's body,  the  indication  is  that  they  are  to  be  exorcised. 

A  shght  doubt  must  be  admitted  in  regard  to  these  myondi, 
whether  they  really  do  constitute  a  distinct  class,  or  whether 
any  spirit  of  any  class  may  not  become  a  myondi.  The  name 
in  that  case  would  be  given  them,  not  as  a  class,  but  as  pro- 
ducers of  certain  effects,  at  certain  times  and  under  certain 
circumstances. 

The  powers  and  functions  of  the  several  classes  of  spirits 
do  not  seem  to  be  distinctly  defined.  Certainly  they  do  not 
confine  themselves  either  to  their  recognized  locality  or  to 
the  usually  understood  function  pertaining  to  their  class. 
These  powers  and  functions  shade  into  each  other,  or  may  be 
assumed  by  members  of  almost  any  class.  But  it  is  clearly 
believed  that  spirits,  even  of  the  same  class,  differ  in  power. 
Some  are  strong,  others  are  weak.  They  are  limited  as  to  the 
nature  of  their  powers  ;  no  spirit  can  do  all  things.  A  spirit's 
efficiency  runs  only  on  a  certain  line  or  lines.  All  of  them 
can  be  influenced  and  made  subservient  to  human  wishes 
by  a  variety  of  incantations. 

There  are  other  names  which,  while  they  belong  to  spirits, 
apparently  indicate  only  peculiarities  in  spiritual  manifesta- 
tions, and  not  representatives  of  a  class. 

1.  There  may  enter  into  any  animal's  body  (generally  a 
leopard's)  some  spirit,  or,  temporarily,  even  the  soul  of  a 
living  human  being.  The  animal  then,  guided  by  human 
intelligence  and  will,  exercises  its  strength  for  the  purposes 
of  the  temporary  human  possessor.  Many  murders  are  said 
to  be  committed  in  this  way,  after  the  manner  of  the  mythical 
German  wehr-wolf  or  the  French  loup-garou. 


CLASSES   AND   FUNCTIONS   OF   SPIRITS       71 

This  belief  in  demoniacal  possession  of  a  lower  animal 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  equally  believed  transmigra- 
tion of  souls.  The  former  is  widespread  over  at  least  a  third 
of  the  African  continent.  In  Mashona-land  "  they  believe 
that  at  times  both  living  and  dead  persons  can  change  them- 
selves into  animals,  either  to  execute  some  vengeance,  or  to 
procure  something  they  wisJi  for;  thus,  a  man  will  change 
himself  into  a  hyena  or  a  lion  to  steal  a  sheep  and  make  a 
good  meal  off  it ;  into  a  serpent  to  avenge  himself  on  some 
enemy.  At  other  times,  if  they  see  a  serpent,  it  is  one  of  the 
Matotela  tribe  or  slave  tribe,  which  has  thus  transformed 
himself  to  take  some  vengeance  on  the  Barotse."  ^ 

2.  Another  manifestation  is  that  of  the  uvengvva.  It  is 
claimed  to  be  not  simply  spiritual,  but  tangible.  It  is  the 
self-resurrected  spirit  and  body  of  a  dead  human  being. 
It  is  an  object  of  dread,  and  is  never  worshipped  in  any 
manner  whatever.  Why  it  appears  is  not  known.  Perhaps 
it  shows  itself  only  in  a  restless,  unquiet,  or  dissatisfied  feeling. 
It  is  white  in  color,  but  the  body  is  variously  changed  from 
the  likeness  of  the  original  liuman  body.  Some  say  that  it 
has  only  one  eye,  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  forehead.  Some 
say  that  its  feet  are  webbed  like  an  aquatic  bird.  It  does 
not  speak  ;  it  only  wanders,  looking  as  if  with  cuiiosity. 

j\ly  little  cottage  at  Batanga  is  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
three  chief  dwellings  of  the  station.  One  afternoon  in  1902 
I  went  to  the  station,  leaving  my  cook  and  his  wife  in  charge 
of  the  cottage.  When  I  returned  late  at  night,  he  asserted 
that  an  uvengwa  had  come  there.  A  few  yards  in  front  of 
the  door  of  the  house  is  a  mango  tree  with  its  very  dense 
dark  foliage.  The  trunk  is  divided  a  few  feet  from  the 
ground.  The  light  from  the  open  door  streamed  into  a  part 
of  the  front  yard,  leaving  the  tree  trunk  in  dark  shadow. 
The  woman  going  out  of  the  door  had  started  back,  scream- 
ing to  her  husband  that  she  saw  an  uvengwa  standing  in  the 
crotch  of  the  tree  and  peering  around  one  of  the  branches. 
The  husband  went  to  the  door.     He  asserted  to  me  that  he 

1  Decle. 


72  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

also  had  seen  the  form.  In  their  terror,  neither  of  them  made 
any  investigation.  Possibly  a  chalk-whitened  thief  had  taken 
advantage  of  my  absence  to  prowl  about.  But  the  two  wit- 
nesses rejected  such  a  suggestion ;  they  were  sure  it  was  a 
visitor  from  some  grave. 

3.  Other  spiritual  manifestations  are  spoken  of  as  the  per- 
sonal guardian-spirit  and  the  family  guardian-spirit.  These 
do  not  constitute  a  separate  class,  but  are  the  special  modes  of 
operation  adopted  by  the  ancestral  spirit  or  spirits  in  the  pro- 
tection of  their  family.  Its  description  belongs  properly  to  a 
later  chapter  under  the  name  of  the  Family  Yaka  fetich. 

The  manner  of  invocation  of  all  these  five  classes  of  spirits, 
in  the  case  of  obscure  diseases,  is  very  much  the  same  now  as 
what  Dr.  Wilson  described  fifty  years  ago.  What  he  saw  on 
the  Gabun  River  tallies  with  what  I  also  saw  thirty  years  ago 
at  Benita,  and  subsequently  in  the  Ogowe.  Even  at  Gabun, 
in  the  present  day,  though  the  Mpongwe  have  been  en- 
lightened, the  same  ceremonies  are  kept  up  by  other  tribes, 
the  Shekani  and  Fang,  who  have  emerged  on  the  coast  at 
Libreville. 

"  Sick  persons,  and  especially  those  that  are  afflicted  with 
nervous  disorders,  are  supposed  to  be  possessed  by  one  or  the 
other  of  these  spirits.  If  the  disease  assumes  a  serious  form, 
the  patient  is  taken  to  a  priest  or  a  priestess,  of  either  of  these 
classes  of  spirits.  Certain  tests  are  applied,  and  it  is  soon 
ascertained  to  which  class  the  disease  belongs,  and  the  patient 
is  accordingly  turned  over  to  the  proper  priest.  The  cere- 
monies in  the  different  cases  are  not  materially  different ;  they 
are  alike,  at  least,  in  the  employment  of  an  almost  endless  raund 
of  absurd,  unmeaning,  and  disgusting  ceremonies  which  none 
but  a  heathenish  and  ignorant  priesthood  could  invent,  and 
none  but  a  poor,  ignorant,  and  superstitious  people  could 
ever  tolerate. 

"  In  either  case  a  temporary  shanty  is  erected  in  the  middle 
of  the  street  for  the  occupancy  of  the  patient,  the  priest,  and 
such  persons  as  are  to  take  part  in  the  ceremony  of  exorcism. 
The  time  employed  in  performing  the  ceremonies  is  seldom 


CLASSES    AND   FUNCTIONS    OF   SPIRITS       73 

less  than  ten  or  fifteen  days.  During  this  period  dancing, 
drumming,  feasting,  and  drinking  are  kept  up  without  inter- 
mission day  and  night,  and  all  at  the  expense  of  the  nearest 
relative  of  the  invalid.  The  patient,  if  a  female,  is  decked  out 
in  the  most  fantastic  costume ;  her  face,  bosom,  arms,  and  legs 
are  streaked  with  red  and  white  chalk,  her  head  adorned  with 
red  feathers,  and  much  of  the  time  she  promenades  the  open 
space  in  front  of  the  shanty  with  a  sword  in  her  hand,  which 
she  brandishes  in  a  very  menacing  way  against  the  bystanders. 
At  the  same  time  she  assumes  as  much  of  the  maniac  in  her 
looks,  actions,  gestures,  and  walk  as  possible.  In  many  cases 
this  is  all  mere  affectation,  and  no  one  is  deceived  by  it.  But 
there  are  other  cases  where  motions  seem  involuntary  and 
entirely  beyond  the  control  of  the  person;  and  when  you 
watch  the  wild  and  unnatural  stare,  the  convulsive  move- 
ments of  the  limbs  and  body,  the  unnatural  posture  into 
which  the  whole  frame  is  occasionally  thrown,  the  gnashing 
of  the  teeth,  and  foaming  at  the  mouth,  and  supernatural 
strength  that  is  put  forth  when  any  attempt  is  made  at  con- 
straint, you  are  strongly  reminded  of  cases  of  real  possession 
recorded  in  the  New  Testament. 

"  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  real  cures  are  ef- 
fected by  these  prolonged  ceremonies.  In  certain  nervous 
affections  the  excitement  is  kept  up  until  utter  exhaustion 
takes  place;  and  if  the  patient  is  kept  quiet  afterwards 
(which  is  generally  the  case),  she  may  be  restored  to  better 
health  after  a  while ;  and,  no  matter  how  long  it  may  be 
before  she  recovers  from  this  severe  tax  upon  her  nerves,  the 
priest  claims  the  credit  of  it.  In  other  cases  the  patient  may 
not  have  been  diseased  at  all,  and,  of  course,  there  was  nothing 
to  be  recovered  from. 

"  If  it  should  be  a  case  of  undissembled  sickness,  and  the 
patient  become  worse  by  this  unnatural  treatment,  she  is  re- 
moved, and  the  ceremonies  are  suspended,  and  it  is  concluded 
that  it  was  not  a  real  possession,  but  something  else  The 
priests  have  certain  tests  by  which  it  is  known  who^  the 
patient   is  healed,  and  the  whole  transaction   is  wound  up 


74  FETICHISM   IN  WEST   AFRICA 

when  the  fees  are  paid.  In  all  cases  of  this  kind  it  is  im- 
possible to  say  whether  the  devil  has  really  been  cast  out  or 
merely  a  better  understanding  arrived  at  between  him  and  the 
person  he  has  been  tormenting.  The  individual  is  required  to 
build  a  little  house  or  temple  for  the  spirit  near  his  own,  to 
take  occasional  offerings  to  him,  and  pay  all  due  respect  to  his 
character,  or  to  be  subject  to  renewed  assaults  at  any  time. 
Certain  restrictions  are  imposed  upon  the  person  who  has 
recovered  from  these  satanic  influences.  He  must  refrain 
from  certain  kinds  of  food,  avoid  certain  places  of  common 
resort,  and  perform  certain  duties;  and,  for  the  neglect  of 
any  of  these,  is  sure  to  be  severely  scourged  by  a  return 
of  his  malady.  Like  the  Jews,  in  speaking  of  the  actions  of 
these  demoniacs,  they  are  said  to  be  done  by  the  spirit,  and 
not  by  the  person  who  is  possessed.  If  the  person  performs 
any  unnatural  or  revolting  act,  —  as  the  biting  off  of  the  head 
of  a  live  chicken  and  sucking  its  blood,  —  it  is  said  that  the 
spirit,  not  the  man,  has  done  it. 

"  But  the  views  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  on  these 
subjects  are  exceedingly  vague  and  indefinite.  They  attend 
these  ceremonies  on  account  of  the  parade  and  excitement 
that  usually  accompany  them,  but  they  have  no  knowledge 
of  their  origin,  their  true  nature,  or  of  their  results.  Many 
submit  to  the  ceremonies  because  they  are  persuaded  to  do  so 
by  their  friends,  and,  no  doubt,  in  many  cases  in  the  hope  of 
being  freed  from  some  troublesome  malady.  But  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  ceremonies  themselves,  or  the  real  influence 
which  they  exert  upon  their  bodily  diseases,  they  probably 
have  many  doubts,  and  when  called  upon  to  give  explanation 
of  the  process  which  they  have  passed  through,  they  show 
that  they  have  none  but  the  most  confused  ideas."  ^ 

1  Wilson,  Western  Africa. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FETICHISM  —  ITS   PHILOSOPHY  — A   PHYSICAL 
SALVATION  — CHARMS   AND    AMULETS 

EVEN  during  the  while  that  man  was  still  a  monotheist, 
as  seen  in  a  previous  chapter,  he  had  eventually  come 
to  the  use  of  idols  which  he  did  not  actually  worship,  by  the 
making  of  images  simply  to  represent  God ;  he  had  not  yet 
become  an  idolater. 

Subsequently,  in  his  farther  lapse  away  from  God,  when  he 
began  to  render  worship  to  beings  other  than  God,  fashioned 
images  to  represent  them  also,  and  actually  worshipped  them, 
he  became  a  polytheist  and  an  idolater. 

When  he  had  wandered  still  farther,  and  God  was  no 
longer  worshipped,  the  knowledge  of  Him  being  reduced  to 
a  name,  a  multitude  of  spiritual  beings  were  substituted  in 
place  of  God,  and  religion  was  only  animism. 

Farther  on,  when  it  seemed  desirable  to  provide  local 
residence  for  these  spirits,  as  had  been  done  for  God  Himself 
in  temples  and  costly  images,  the  material  objects  used  for 
that  residence  were  no  longer  matter  of  value  and  choice  ; 
anything  and  any  place  was  sufficient  for  a  spirit's  habitat. 
Neither  dignity,  beauty,  nor  strength  was  any  longer  a  factor 
in  the  selection.  For  these  objects  did  not  represent  the 
deities  in  any  way  whatever.  They  were  simply  local  resi- 
dences. As  such,  a  spirit  could  live  anywhere  and  in 
anything.  This  is  bald  fetichism.  The  thing  itself,  the 
material  itself,  is  not  worshipped.  The  fetich  worshipper 
makes  a  clear  distinction  between  the  reverence  with  which 
he  regards  a  certain  material  object  and  the  worship  he  ren- 
ders to  the  spirit  for  the  time  being  inhabiting  it.     For  this 


'D 


76  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

reason  nothing  is  too  mean  or  too  small  or  too  ridiculous  to 
be  considered  fit  for  a  spirit's  locum  tenens  ;  for  when  for 
any  reason  the  spirit  is  supposed  to  have  gone  out  of  that 
thing  and  definitely  abandoned  it,  the  thing  itself  is  no  longer 
reverenced,  and  is  thrown  away  as  useless. 

The  selection  of  the  article  in  which  the  spirit  is  to  reside 
is  made  by  the  native  "uganga"  (doctor),  who  to  the  Negro 
stands  in  the  office  of  a  priest.  Tlie  ground  of  selection  is 
generally  that  of  mere  convenience.  The  ability  to  conjure 
a  free  wandering  spirit  into  the  narrow  limits  of  a  small  ma- 
terial object,  and  to  compel  and  subordinate  its  power  to  the 
aid  of  some  designated  person  or  persons  and  for  a  specific 
purpose,  rests  with  that  uganga. 

Over  the  wide  range  of  many  articles  used  in  which  to 
confine  spirits,  common  and  favorite  things  are  the  skins  and 
especially  the  tails  of  bush-cats,  horns  of  antelopes,  nut-shells, 
snail-shells,  bones  of  any  animal,  but  especially  human  bones ; 
and  among  the  bones  are  specially  regarded  portions  of  skulls 
of  human  beings  and  teeth  and  claws  of  leopards.  But,  lit- 
erally, anything  may  be  chosen, — any  stick,  any  stone,  any 
rag  of  cloth.  Apparently,  there  being  no  limit  to  the  num- 
ber of  spirits,  there  is  literally  no  limit  to  the  number  and 
character  of  the  articles  in  wliich  they  may  be  localized. 

It  is  not  true,  as  is  asserted  by  some  in  regard  to  these 
African  tribes  and  their  degraded  form  of  rehgion,  that  they 
worship  the  actual  material  objects  in  which  the  spirits  are 
supposed  to  be  confined.  Low  as  is  fetichism,  it  nevertheless 
has  its  philosophy,  a  philosophy  that  is  the  same  in  kind  as 
that  of  the  higher  forms  of  religion.  A  similar  sense  of  need 
that  sends  the  Christian  to  his  knees  before  God  to  ask  aid  in 
time  of  trouble,  and  salvation  temporal  and  spiritual,  sends 
the  fetich  worshipper  to  offer  his  sacrifice  and  to  ejaculate 
his  prayer  for  help  as  he  lays  hold  of  his  consecrated  antelope 
horn,  or  as  he  looks  on  it  with  abiding  trust  while  it  is  safely 
tied  to  his  body.  His  human  necessity  drives  him  to  seek 
assistance. 

The  difference  between  his  act  and  the  act  of  the  Christi*, » 


PHILOSOPHY  — CHARMS   AND   AMULETS      77 

lies  in  the  kind  of  salvation  he  seeks,  the  being  to  whom  he 
appeals,  and  the  reason  for  his  appealing.     The  reason  for  his  } 
appeal  is  simply  fear;  there  is  no  confession,  no  love,  rarely/ 
thanksgiving. 

The  being  to  whom  he  appeals  is  not  God.     True,  he  does 
not  deny  that  He  is  ;  if  asked,  he  will  acknowledge  His  exist-  . 
ence.      But  that  is  all.      Very  rarely  and  only  in  extreme  | 
emergencies,  does  he  make  an  appeal  to  Him ;   for  he  thinks 
God  so  far  off,  so  inaccessible,  so  indifferent  to  human  woes 
and  wants,  that  a  petition  to  Him  would  be  almost  in  vain.! 
He  therefore  turns  to  some  one   of  the  mass  of  spirits  which 
he  believes  to  be  ever  near  and  observant  of  human  affairs, 
in  which,  as  former  human  beings,  some  of  them  once  had 
part. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  salvation  sought,  it  is  not  spir- 
itual ;  it  is  a  purely  physical  salvation.    A  sense  of  moral  and 
spiritual  need  is  lost  sight  of,  although  not  eliminated.     This    ( 
is  an  index  of  the  distance  the  Negro  has  travelled  away  from   j 
Jehovah  before  he  finally  reached  the  position  of  placing  his  A 
trust  in  a  fetich.    By  just  so  much  as  he  seems  to  himself  living 
in  a  world  crowded  with  unseen  but  powerful  spiritual  beings 
(with  whom  what  a  Christian  calls  "sin  "  has  no  reprehensible 
moral  quality),  by  just  so  much  he  seems  to  have  lost  sight  of 
his  own  soul  and  its  moral  necessities. 

The  future  is  so  vague  that  in  the  thought  of  most  tribes 
it  contains  neither  heaven  nor  hell  ;  there  is  no  certain  reward 
or  rest  for  goodness,  nor  positive  punishment  for  badness.  ^ 

The  future  life  is  to  each  native  largely  a  reproduction,  onj  ^:   [i  ^^ 
shadowy  and  intangible  lines,  of  the  works  and  interests  andi  r 
passions  of  this  earthly  life.     In  his  present  life,  with  its  sav-j    ^' 
agery  and  oppression  and  dominance  of  selfish  greed  and  right] 
of  might,  goodness  has  no  reward.    It  is  badness  which  in  his 
personal  experience  makes  the  largest  gains.    From  this  point 
of  view,  while  some  acts  are  indeed  called  "  good  "  and  some 
"  bad  "  (conscience  proving  its  simple  existence  by  the  use  of 
these  words  in  the  record  of  language),  yet  conscience  is  not 
much   troubled  by  its  possessor's  badness.     There  is  little 


78  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

sense  of  the  sinfulness  of  sin.  There  is  only  fear  of  possible 
human  injury  by  human  or  subsidized  spiritual  enemies.  This 
is  all  the  salvation  that  is  sought.  C 

It  is  sought  by  prayer ;  by  sacrifice,  and  by  certain  other 
ceremonies  rendered  to  the  spirit  of  the  fetich  or  to  other 
non-localized  spirits ;  and  by  the  use  of  charms  or  amulets. 

These  charms  may  be  vocal,  ritual,  or  material. 

(1)  The  vocal  are  the  utterance  of  cabalistic  words  depre- 
catory of  evil  or  supplicatory  of  favor,  which  are  supposed  in 
a  vague  way  to  have  power  over  the  local  spirits.  These 
words  or  phrases,  though  sometimes  coined  by  a  person  for 
himself  or  herself  (and  therefore  like  our  slang  having  a 
known  meaning),  are  often  archaisms,  handed  down  from 
ancestors  and  believed  to  possess  efficiency,  but  whose  mean- 
ing is  forgotten.  In  this  list  would  be  included  long  incanta- 
tions by  the  magic  doctors  and  the  Ibata-blown  blessing. 

(2)  Certain  rites  or  ceremonies  are  performed  for  almost 
every  child  at  some  time  during  his  or  her  infancy  or  youth, 
or  subsequently  as  occasion  may  demand,  in  which  a  prohibi- 
tion is  laid  upon  the  child  in  regard  to  the  eating  of  some 
particular  article  of  food  or  the  doing  of  some  special  act.  It 
is  difficult  to  get  at  the  exact  object  for  this  "  oruncla."  Cer- 
tainly the  prohibited  food  or  act  is  not  in  itself  evil ;  for  all 
but  the  inhibited  individual  may  eat  of  the  food  or  commit  the 
act  as  they  please.  Most  natives  blindly  follow  the  "  custom  " 
of  their  ancestors,  and  are  unable  to  give  me  the  raison  d'etre 
of  the  rite  itself.  But  I  gather  from  the  testimony  of  tliose  best 
able  to  give  a  reason  that  the  prohibited  article  or  act  is  liter- 
ally a  sacrifice,  ordained  for  the  child  by  its  parents  and  the 
magic  doctor,  as  a  gift  to  the  governing  spiiit  of  its  life.  The 
thing  prohibited  thus  becomes  removed  from  the  child's  com- 
mon use  and  is  made  sacred  to  the  spirit.  It  is  therefore  a 
sacrament.  Any  use  of  it  by  the  child  will  thenceforth  be  a 
sacrilege  which  would  draw  down  the  spirit's  wrath  in  the 
form  of  sickness  or  other  evil,  and  which  can  be  atoned  for 
only  through  expensive  ceremonies  and  by  gifts  to  the  magi- 
cian interceding  for  the  offender. 


PHILOSOPHY  — CHARMS    AND   AMULETS      79 

Anything  may  be  selected  for  an  orunda.  I  do  not  know 
the  ground  for  a  selection.  Why  one  child,  perhaps  a  babe 
too  young  to  have  eaten  of  the  to-be-prohibited  thing,  should  i 

be  debarred  forever  from  eating  a  chicken,  or  the  liver  or        ^v^' 
any  other  particular  part,  or  any  portion  at  all,  of  a  goat  or  an  p 
ox  or  any  other  animal,  I  do  not  know.     But  that  orunda 
is   thenceforth  faithfully  complied  with,   even   under   pangs 
of  hunger.     It  is  like  a  Nazarite's  vow. 

I  have  a  strong  suspicion  that  where  the  orunda  laid  on  a 
woman  is  a  matter  of  meat,  superstition  has  played  into  the 
hands  of  masculine  selfishness,  and  denies  to  women  the  choice 
meat  in  order  that  men  may  have  the  greater  share.  My 
suspicion  rests  on  almost  positive  evidence  in  the  case  of 
some  prohibition!  to  the  Avomen  of  the  Bulu  and  other  Fang 
tribes  of  the  interior. 

On  a  boat  journey  in  the  Ogowe  River,  about  1878,  I 
camped  on  the  edge  of  a  forest  for  the  noon  meal.  My  crew 
of  four,  members  of  the  Galwa  and  Nkami  tribes,  had  no 
meat.  They  needed  it,  for  they  had  rowed  hard  and  well. 
For  myself,  I  had  only  a  small  chicken.  I  was  satisfied  with 
a  portion  of  it,  and  gave  the  rest  to  the  crew.  It  would 
make  at  least  a  tasty  morsel  for  each,  with  their  manioc 
bread.  Three  of  them  thanked  me ;  the  fourth  did  not  touch 
his  share.  I  felt  slightly  vexed,  thinking  my  favor  was  not 
appreciated,  and  I  asked  the  cause  of  his  apparent  suUenness. 
He  said  he  did  not  dare  to  eat  of  the  fowl,  as  it  was  orunda 
to  him. 

On  another  journey,  in  1876,  a  young  man  whom  I  had 
picked  up  as  extra  hand  in  my  boat's  crew,  when  at  the  noon 
mealtime  we  stopped  under  the  shade  of  a  spreading  tree 
by  the  river's  bank,  instead  of  respectfully  leaving  me  alone 
with  my  lunch  in  the  boat,  and  going  ashore  where  the  others 
were  eating,  wanted  to  remain  in  the  boat,  his  orunda  being 
that  when  on  a  journey  by  water  his  food  should  be  eaten 
only  over  water. 

Two  Ogowe  chiefs,  near  whose  villages  was  anchored  the 
small  river  steamer  "Pioneer,"  on  which   I   was  passenger, 


80  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

in  1875,  came  aboard,  and  in  drinking  a  glass  of  liquor 
with  the  captain,  one  of  them  held  up  a  piece  of  white 
cloth  before  his  mouth,  in  order  that  strangers'  eyes  might 
not  see  him  swallow.  That  was  his  orunda,  probably. 
Perhaps  also  the  hiding  of  his  drinking  may  have  had  refer- 
ence to  the  common  fear  of  another's  "evil  eye." 

The  other,  having  taken  a  mouthful,  wet  his  finger  in  his 
mouth,  drew  the  wet  finger  across  his  throat,  and  then  blew 
on  a  fetich  which  he  wore  as  a  ring  on  a  finger  of  the  other 
hand.     I  do  not  know  the  significance  of  his  motion  across 
his  throat.     The  blowing  was  the  Ibata-blessing,  —  an  ejacu- 
latory  prayer  for  a  blessing  on  his  plans,  probably  of  trade. 
^    This  word  "orunda,"  meaning  thus   originally  prohibited 
from  human  use  (like  the  South  Sea  "taboo"),  grew,  under 
missionary  hands,  into  its  related  meaning  of  sacred  to  spirit- 
j  ual  use.     It  is  the  word  by  which  the  Mpongwe  Scriptures 
j  translate  our  word  "holy."     I  think  it  an  unfortunate  choice; 
jfor  the  missionary  has  to  stop  and  explain  that  orunda,  as 
'  used  for  God,  does  not  mean  the  orunda  used  by  mankind. 
In  the  translation  of  the  Benga  Scriptures  the  word  "holy" 
was  transferred  bodily,  and  we  explain  that  it  means  some- 
thing better  than  good.     To  such  straits  are  translators  some- 
times reduced  in  the  use  of  heathen  languages ! 

(3)  The  charms  that  are  most  common  are  material,  the 
fetich,  —  so  common,  indeed,  that  by  the  universality  of 
their  use,  and  the  prominence  given  to  them  everywhere,  in 
houses  and  on  the  person,  they  almost  monopolize  the  religious 
thought  of  the  Bantu  Negro,  subordinating  other  acknowl- 
edged points  of  his  theology,  dominating  his  almost  entire 
religious  interest,  and  giving  the  departmental  word  "fetich" 
such  overwhelming  regard  that  it  has  furnished  the  name 
distinctive  of  the  native  African  religious  system,  viz.,  fetich- 
ism.  "  Fetich  "  is  an  English  word  of  Portuguese  origin. 
"It  is  derived  from  feitieo,  'made,'  'artificial  '  (compare  the 
old  English  fetys,  used  by  Chaucer);  and  this  term,  used  of 
the  charms  and  amulets  worn  in  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
of  the  period,  was  applied,  by  the  Portuguese  sailors  of  the 


PHILOSOPHY  — CHARMS   AND   AMULETS      81 

eighteenth  century,   to  the   deities   they  saw  worshipped   by 
the  Negroes  of  the  West  Coast  of  Africa. 

"  De  Brosses,  a  French  savant  of  the  hist  century,  brought 
the  word  'fetichisni  '  into  use  as  a  term  for  the  type  of  re- 
ligion of  the  lowest  races.  The  word  has  given  rise  to 
some  confusion,  having  been  applied,  by  Comte  and  other 
writers,  to  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  of  the  great 
features  of  Nature.  It  is  best  to  limit  it  to  the  worship  of 
such  natural  objects  as  are  reverenced,  not  for  their  own 
power  or  excellence,  but  because  they  are  supposed  to  be  oc- 
cupied each  by  a  spirit."  ^ 

The  native  word  on  the  Liberian  coast  is  "gree-gree"  ;  in 
the  Niger  Delta,  "  ju-ju  " ;  in  the  Gabun  country,  "  monda  " ; 
among  the  cannibal  Fang,  "biaii";  and  in  other  tribes  the 
same  respective  dialectic  by  which  we  translate  "medicine." 
To  a  sick  native's  thought  the  adjuvant  medicinal  herb  used 
by  the  doctor,  and  its  associated  efficiency-giving  spirit  in- 
voked by  that  same  doctor,  are  inseparable.  In  the  heathen 
Negro's  soul  the  fetich  takes  the  place,  and  has  the  regard, 
which  an  idol  has  with  the  Hindu  and  the  Chinese. 

"  A  fetich,  strictly  speaking,  is  little  else  than  a  charm  or 
amulet,  worn  about  the  person,  and  set  up  at  some  conven- 
ient place,  for  the  purpose  of  guarding  against  some  ap- 
prehended evil  or  securing  some  coveted  good."  In  the 
Anglo-African  parlance  of  the  Coast  fetiches  are  called  by 
various  names,  but  all  signify  the  same  thing.  Fetiches  may 
be  made  of  anything  of  vegetable,  animal,  or  metallic  nature, 
"  and  need  only  to  pass  through  the  consecrating  hands  of  a 
native  priest  to  receive  all  the  supernatural  powers  which ' 
they  are  supposed  to  possess.  It  is  not  always  certain  that 
they  possess  extraordinary  powers.  They  must  be  tried  and 
give  proof  of  their  efficiency  before  they  can  be  implicitl}' 
trusted.  "2   <) 

A  fetich,  then,  is  any  material  object  consecrated  by  the 
"oganga,"  or  magic  doctor,  with  a  variety  of  ceremonies  and 

^  Menzies,  History  of  Religion,  p.  33. 
2  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  p.  212. 
6 


82  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

processes,  by  virtue  of  which  some  spirit  becomes  localized  in 
that  object,  and  subject  to  the  will  of  the  i)ossessor. 

Anything  that  can  be  conveniently  carried  on  the  person 
may  thus  be  consecrated,  — a  stone,  chip,  rag,  string,  or  bead. 
Articles  most  frequently  used  are  snail-shells,  nut-shells,  and 
fimall  horns  of  gazelles  or  goats.  These  are  used  probably 
because  of  their  convenient  cavities ;  for  they  are  to  be  filled 
by  the  oganga  with  a  variety  of  substances  depending,  in 
their  selection,  on  the  special  work  to  be  accomplished  by 
the  fetich.  Its  value,  however,  depends  not  on  itself,  nor 
solely  on  the  character  of  these  substances,  but  on  the  skill  of 
the  oganga  in  dealing  with  spirits. 

There  is  a  relation  between  these  selected  substances  and 
the  object  to  be  obtained  by  the  fetich  which  is  to  be  pre- 
pared of  them,  —  for  example,  to  give  the  possessor  Imivery 
or  strength,  some  part  of  a  leopard  or  an  elephant;  to  give 
cunning,  some  part  of  a  gazelle ;  to  give  wisdom,  some  part 
of  a  human  brain;  to  give  courage,  some  part  of  a  heart; 
to  give  influence,  some  part  of  an  eye;  and  so  on  for  a 
multitude  of  qualities.  These  substances  are  supposed  to 
lure  some  spirit  (being  in  some  way  pleasing  to  it),  which 
thenceforward  is  satisfied  to  reside  in  them  and  to  aid 
the  possessor  in  the  accomplishment  of  some  one  specific 
wish. 

In  preparing  a  fetich  the  oganga  selects  substances  such 
as  he  deems  appropriate  to  the  end  in  view, —  the  ashes  of  cer- 
tain medicinal  plants,  pieces  of  calcined  bones,  gums,  spices, 
resins,  and  even  filth,  portions  of  organs  of  the  bodies  of 
animals,  and  especially  of  human  beings  (preferably  eyes, 
brain,  heart,  and  gall-bladder),  particularly  of  ancestors,  or 
men  strong  or  renowned  in  any  way,  and  very  especially  of 
enemies  and  of  white  men.  Human  eyeballs  (particularly  of 
a  white  person)  are  a  great  prize.  New-mad^  graves  have 
been  rifled  for  them. 

These  are  compounded  in  secret,  with  the  accompaniment 
of  drums,  dancing,  invocations,  looking  into  mirrors  or  limpid 
water  to  see  faces  (human  or  spiritual,  as  may  be  desired),  and 


PHILOSOPHY  — CHARMS   AND   AMULETS      83 

are  stuffed  into  the  hollow  of  the  shell  or  bone,  or  smeared 
over  the  stick  or  stone. 

H  it  he  desired  to  obtain  power  over  some  one  else,  the 
oganga  must  be  given  by  the  applicant,  to  be  mixed  in  the 
sacred  compound,  either  crumbs  from  the  food,  or  clippings 
of  finger  nails  or  hair,  or  (most  powerful !)  even  a  drop  of 
blood  of  the  person  over  whom  influence  is  sought.  These 
represent  the  life  or  body  of  that  person.  So  fearful  are 
natives  of  power  being  thus  obtained  over  them,  that  they 
have  their  hair  cut  only  by  a  friend;  and  even  then  they 
carefully  burn  it  or  cast  it  into  a  river.  If  one  acciden- 
tally cuts  himself,  he  stamps  out  what  blood  has  dropped  on 
the  ground,  or  cuts  out  from  wood  the  part  saturated  with 
blood. 

Sitting  one  day  by  a  village  boat-landing  in  the  Benita 
region,  about  18GG,  while  my  crew  prepared  for  our  journey, 
I  was  idly  plucking  at  my  beard,  and  carelessly  flung  away 
a  few  hairs.  Presently  I  observed  that  some  children  gath- 
ered them  up.  Asking  my  Christian  assistant  what  that 
meant,  he  told  me:  "They  will  have  a  fetich  made  with 
those  hairs ;  when  next  you  visit  this  village,  they  will  ask 
you  for  some  favor,  and  you  will  grant  it,  by  the  power  they 
will  thus  have  obtained  over  you." 

The  water  with  which  a  lover's  body  (male  or  female)  is 
washed,  is  used  in  making  a  philter  to  be  mingled  secretly 
in  the  drink  of  the  loved  one. 

While,  as  I  have  already  stated,  it  is  true  that  anything 
portable  may  be  used  either  as  the  receptacle  in  which  the 
spirit  is  to  be  located  or  as  the  substance  or  "  medicine  "  to  be 
inserted  in  it,  I  wish  to  insist  that  in  the  philosophy  of  fetich 
there  is  always  a  reason  in  the  selection  of  all  these  articles, — 
a  reason  which  it  is  often  difficult  for  a  foreigner  to  discover, 
—  an  apparent  fitness  for  the  end  in  view. 

Arnot  ^  refers  to  this :  "  Africans  believe  largely  in  preven- 
tive measures,  and  their  fetich  charms  are  chiefly  of  that  order. 
In  passing  through  a  country  where  leopards  and  lions  abound, 

1  GaroiiK^iii/e,  ]<■  237. 


>^^ 


84  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

they  carefully  provide  themselves  with  the  claws,  teeth,  lips, 
and  whiskers  of  those  animals,  and  hang  them  around  their 
necks,  to  secure  themselves  against  being  attacked.  For  the 
same  purpose  the  point  of  an  elephant  trunk  is  generally 
worn  by  elephant  hunters.  The  bones  from  the  legs  of  tor- 
toises are  much  valued  as  anklets,  in  order  to  give  the  wearers 
endurance,  reminding  one  of  the  fable  of  the  tortoise.  The 
lower  jaw-bone  of  the  tortoise  is  worn  by  certain  tribes  as  a 
preventive  against  toothache.  The  spine  bones  of  serpents 
are  strung  together  with  a  girdle  as  a  cure  for  back-ache." 

A  recent  visitor  to  the  Gabun  country,  in  the  "  Journal  of 
the  African  Society,"  makes  this  criticism:  "When  a  white 
man  or  woman  wears  some  trinket  strung  about  them,  they 
call  it  an  amulet  or  charm.  They  ascribe  to  it  some  virtue, 
and  regard  it  as  a  sacred  (?)  thing;  but  when  an  African 
native  wears  one,  white  men  call  it  '  fetich, '  and  the  wearer 
a  savage  or  heathen."  This  defence  of  the  Negro  is  gratify- 
ing, but  the  criticism  of  the  white  man  is  not  quite  just. 
There  is  this  radical  difference :  to  the  African  the  "  fetich  " 
is  his  all,  his  entire  hope  for  his  physical  salvation ;  he  does 
not  reckon  on  God  at  all.  The  civilized  man  or  woman  with 
a  "mascot"  is  very  foolish  in  his  or  her  belief  in  luck,  but 
their  mascots  never  entirely  take  God's  place. 

I  met  at  Gabun  about  1895  the  same  criticism  from  the 
mouth  of  a  partly  educated  Sierra  Leone  Negro,  who,  though 
a  professing  Christian,  evidently  was  wearing  Christianity 
hypocritically.  His  well-educated  Mpongwe  wife  was  'a 
member  of  my  church.  It  was  discovered  that  she  had  a 
certain  fetich  suspended  in  her  bedroom.  It  was  necessary 
to  summon  her  before  the  church  session ;  she  explained  that 
it  was  not  hers,  but  her  husband's,  and  disclaimed  belief  in 
it.  She  was  rebuked  for  allowing  it  in  her  room.  The 
husband,  hearing  of  the  rebuke,  wrote  me  an  angry  letter 
justifying  his  fetich.     He  said  in   substance: 

"You  white  people  don't  know  anything  about  black  man's 
'  fashions, '  You  say  you  trust  God  for  everything,  but  in  your 
own  country  you  put  up  an  iron  rod  over  your  houses  to  protect 


PHILOSOPHY  — CHARMS   AND   AMULETS      85 

yourselves  from  death  by  lightning;  and  you  trust  in  it  the 
while  that  you  still  believe  in  God;  and  you  call  it  'elec- 
tricity '  and  civilization.  And  you  say  it 's  all  right.  I 
call  this  thing  of  mine  —  this  charm  —  '  medicine  ' ;  and  I 
hung  it  over  my  wife's  bed  to  keep  away  death  by  the  arts  of 
those  who  hate  her;  and  I  trust  in  it  while  still  believing  in 
God.  And  you  think  me  a  heathen!  "  It  was  explained  to 
him  that  in  the  use  of  the  lightning-rod  white  men  rever- 
ently recognized  God  in  His  own  natural  forces,  but  that  his 
fetich  dishonored  God,  ignored  Him,  and  was  a  distinct  recog- 
nition of  a  supposed  power  that  was  claimed  to  be  able  to  act 
independently  of  God;  that  I  trusted  to  the  lightning-rod 
under  God,  while  he  trusted  to  his  fetich  outside  of  God. 

For  every  human  passion  or  desire  of  every  part  of  our 
nature,  for  our  thousand  necessities  or  wishes,  a  fetich  can  be 
made,  its  operation  being  directed  to  the  attainment  of  one 
specified  wish,  and  limited  in  power  only  by  the  possible 
existence  of  some  more  powerful  antagonizing  spirit. 

This,  hung  on  the  plantation  fence  or  from  the  branches 
of  plants  in  the  garden,  is  either  to  prevent  theft  or  to 
sicken  the  thief;  hung  over  the  doorway  of  the  house,  to 
bar  the  entrance  of  evil;  hung  from  the  bow  of  the  canoe, 
to  insure  a  successful  voyage;  worn  on  the  arm  in  hunt- 
ing, to  assure  an  accurate  aim;  worn  on  any  part  of  one's 
person,  to  give  success  in  loving,  hating,  planting,  fish- 
ing, buying,  and  so  forth,  through  the  whole  range  of  daily 
work  and  interests. 

Some  kinds,  Avorn  on  a  bracelet  or  necklace,  are  to  ward  off 
sickness.  The  new-born  infant  has  a  health-knot  tied  about 
its  neck,  wrist,  or  loins.  Down  to  the  day  of  oldest  age, 
every  one  keeps  on  multiplying  or  renewing  or  altering 
these  life  talismans. 

If  of  the  charge  at  Balaklava  it  was  said,  "This  is  magni- 
ficent, but  it  is  not  war,"  1  may  say  of  these  heathen,  "Such 
faith  is  magnificent,  though  it  be  folly."  The  hunter  going 
out,  certain  of  success,  returns  empty-handed;  the  warrior 
bearing  on  his  breast  a  fetich  panoply,  which  he  is  confident 


86  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

will  turn  aside  a  bullet,  comes  back  wounded;  everyone  is 
some  day  foiled  in  bis  cberisbed  plan.  Do  tbey  lose  tbeir 
faitb  ?  No,  not  in  the  system,  —  tbeir  fetichism ;  but  in  the 
special  material  object  of  their  faith  —  their  fetich  —  they  do. 
Going  to  the  oganga  whom  they  bad  paid  for  concocting  that 
now  disappointing  amulet,  tbey  tell  him  of  its  failure.  He 
readily  replies:  "Yes,  I  know.  You  have  an  enemy  who 
possesses  a  fetich  containing  a  spirit  more  powerful  than 
yours,  which  made  your  bullet  miss  its  mark,  which  caused 
your  opponent's  spear  to  wound  you.  Yours  is  no  longer  of 
use ;  it 's  dead.  Come,  pay  me,  and  I  will  make  you  a  charm 
containing  a  spirit  still  more  powerful." 

The  old  fetich  hitherto  jealously  guarded,  and  which 
would  not  have  been  sold  for  any  consideration,  is  now 
thrown  away  or  sold  to  the  foreign  curio-hunter. 

A  native  heathen  Akele  chief,  Kasa,  my  friend  and  host 
in  the  Ogowe,  in  1874,  showed  me  a  string  of  shells,  bones, 
horns,  wild-cat  tails,  and  so  forth,  each  with  its  magic  com- 
pound, which  he  said  could  turn  aside  bullets.  In  a  friendly 
way  he  dared  me  to  fire  at  him  with  my  sixteen-repeater 
Winchester  rifle.  I  did  not  believe  he  meant  it;  but,  on  bis 
taking  his  stand  a  few  paces  distant,  he  did  not  quail  under 
my  steady  aim,  nor  even  at  the  click  of  the  trigger.  I,  of 
course,  desisted,  apparently  worsted.  Two  years  later,  Kasa 
was  charged  by  an  elephant  he  had  wounded,  and  was  pierced 
by  its  tusks.  His  attendants  drove  off  the  beast;  the  fear- 
fully lacerated  man  survived  long  enough  to  accuse  twelve 
of  his  women  and  other  slaves  of  having  bewitched  his  gun, 
and  thus  causing  it  only  to  wound  instead  of  killing  the 
elephant.  On  that  charge  four  of  the  accused  were  put 
to  death. 

Both  men  and  women  may  become  aganga  on  voluntary 
choice,  and  after  a  course  of  instruction  by  an  oganga. 

"  There  is  generally  a  special  person  in  a  tribe  who  knows 
these  things,  and  is  able  to  work  them.  He  has  more  power 
over  spirits  than  other  men  have,  and  is  able  to  make  them 
do  what  he  likes.     He  can  heal  sickness,  be  can  foretell  the 


Fktich  Doctor. 
(The  triangular  patch  of  hair  is  the  professional  tonsure.) 


PHILOSOPHY  — CHARMS   AND   AMULETS      87 

future,  he  can  change  a  thing  into  something  else,  or  a  man 
into  a  lower  animal,  or  a  tree,  or  anything;  he  can  also  as- 
sume such  transformations  himself  at  will.  He  uses  means 
to  bring  about  such  results;  he  knows  about  herbs,  he  has 
also  recourse  to  rubbing,  to  making  images  of  affected  parts 
of  the  body,  and  to  various  other  arts.  Very  frequently  he 
is  regarded  as  inspired.  It  is  the  spirit  dwelling  in  him  which 
brings  about  the  wonderful  results;  without  the  spirit  he 
could  not  do  anything."  ^ 

Though  these  magicians  possess  power,  its  joy  has  its 
limitations;  for,  becoming  possessed  by  a  familiar  spirit, 
through  whose  aid  they  make  their  invocations  and  incanta- 
tions and  under  whose  influence  tliey  fall  into  cataleptic 
trances  or  are  thrilled  with  Delphic  rages,  if  they  should 
happen  to  offend  that  "familiar,"  it  may  destroy  them  by 
"  eating "  out  their  life,  as  their  phrase  is.  On  Corisco 
Island,  in  1863,  a  certain  man  had  acquired  prominence  as 
a  magic  doctor;  he  finally  died  of  consumption.  His  friends 
began  a  witchcraft  investigation  to  find  out  who  had  "  killed  " 
him.  A  post-mortem  being  made,  cavities  were  found  in  the 
lungs.  Ignorant  of  disease,  they  thereupon  dropped  the  in- 
vestigation, saying  that  his  own  "witch  "  had  "eaten  "  him. 

Captain  Guy  Burrows,  a  British  officer,  formerly  in  the 
service  of  the  Kongo  Free-State,  left  it  unwilling  to  be  a 
participant  in  the  fearful  atrocities  allowed  by  the  King  of 
Belgium ;  and  he  has  recently  made  a  scathing  exposure  of 
the  doings  of  Belgian  agents  that  have  made  the  Kongo  a 
slave-ground  of  worse  horrors  than  existed  in  the  old  days  <»f 
the  export  slave-trade.  He  thus  jocularly  describes  what  he 
saw  of  fetich  at  the  town  of  Matadi  on  the  Kongo,  where 
there  is  an  English  Baptist  Mission :  "  Outside  the  small 
area,  under  the  direct  influence  of  the  mission,  there  is  but 
one  deity,  —  the  fetich.  The  heathen  in  his  blindness,  in 
bowing  down  to  wood  and  stone,  bows,  as  Kipling  says,  to 
'wood  for  choice.'  He  carves  a  more  or  less  grotesque  face; 
and  the  rest  is  a  matter  of  taste.     I  came  across  one  figure 

1  Menzies,  History  of  Religion,  p.  73. 


88  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

whose  principal  ornament  consisted  of  a  profusion  of  ten- 
penny  nails  and  a  large  cowrie  shell. ^  But  anything  will 
do;  an  old  tin  teapot  is  another  favorite  fetich  decoration. 
I  have  generally  found  that  the  uglier  they  are,  the  more  they 
seem  to  be  feared  and  reverenced. 

"  The  fetich  is  sometimes  inclined  to  be  a  nuisance.  On  one 
occasion  I  wanted  to  build  an  out-house  at  the  far  end  of  a 
plantation,  where  tools  and  other  implements  might  be  stored. 
I  was  told  by  the  chief,  however,  that  this  was  fetich  ground, 
and  that  terrible  misfortunes  would  follow  any  attempt  to 
build  on  it.  I  tried  to  get  some  closer  idea  of  the  fetich,  but 
could  get  no  more  material  information  than  a  recital  of  vague 
terrors  of  the  kind  that  frighten  children  at  night.  So  I  be- 
gan building  my  out-house,  during  the  course  of  which  opera- 
tion some  monkeys  came  and  sat  in  the  trees,  highly  interested 
in  the  proceedings.  In  some  indefinite  way  I  gathered  that 
the  fetich  power  was  regarded  as  being  invested  in  these 
monkeys,  or  that  they  were  the  embodiment  of  the  fetich 
idea,  or  anything  else  you  please.  But  I  could  not  have  my 
work  interfered  with  by  the  ghosts  of  a  lot  of  chattering  apes, 
and  the  fears  of  those  big  children  the  natives;  so  I  witch- 
doctored  the  monkeys  after  an  improved  recipe  of  my  own,  — 
I  shot  the  lot.  Thereafter  the  spell  was  supposed  to  be 
lifted,  and  no  farther  objections  were  raised ;  but  the  emptj- 
cartridge  cases  were  seized  upon  by  the  men  as  charms  against 
any  furthei'  manifestations  in  the  same  place.  I  am  glad  to 
say  none  occurred;  the  spell  I  had  used  was  too  potent! " 

Captain  Burrows  was  probably  an  efficient  administrator. 
But,  like  many  foreigners,  he  evidently  chose  to  ride,  rough 
shod,  over  natives'  prejudices,  regarding  them  as  idle  super- 
stitions, and  unable  or  unwilling  to  investigate  their  philoso- 
phy.    I  see,  however,  from  his  story,  that  he  had  gotten  hold 

1  Those  nails  were  not  mere  "  ornaments."  They  were  the  records  of  the  num- 
ber of  persons  who  had  been  transfixed  by  death  or  disease  under  the  power  of 
that  fetich  idol.  A  similar  custom  is  known  in  the  West  Indies  and  in  the 
southern  United  States.  For  every  pin  stuck  into  a  wax  figure  intended  to 
represent  the  person  to  be  injured,  some  sickness  or  other  evil  will  fall  on  him. 
Wilkie  Collins  also  utilized  this  superstition  in  his  novel, "  I  say,  No." —  R.  H.  N. 


PHILOSOPHY  — CHARMS   AND   AMULETS      89 

of  a  part  of  tlie  truth.  That  ground  on  which  he  desired  to 
build  was  probably  an  old  graveyard.  The  native  chief  very 
naturally  did  not  wish  it  to  be  disturbed.  JNIonkeys  that 
gather  on  the  trees  in  the  vicinity  of  a  graveyard  are  sup- 
posed to  be  possessed  by  the  spirits  of  those  buried  there. 
An  ordinary  individual  would  have  been  forcibly  prevented 
had  he  attempted  what  Captain  Burrows  did.  He  had  a 
foreign  government  at  his  back,  and  the  natives  submitted. 
Their  dead  and  their  monkeys,  sacred  ^ro  tempoix^  had  suc- 
cumbed to  the  superior  power  of  the  white  man's  cartridges. 
Their  only  satisfaction  was  to  retain  the  empty  shells  as 
souvenirs. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   FETICH  — A   WORSHIP 

WORSHIP  is  an  eminent  part  of  every  form  of  religion, 
but  it  is  not  essential  to  it.  True,  most  religions 
liave  some  form  of  worship.  But  a  belief  would  still  be 
a  religion,  even  if  it  were  so  insignificant  or  so  degraded 
or  so  indifferent  as  not  to  care  to  express  itself  in  rites  or 
ceremonies. 

Fetichism,  whose  claim  to  a  right  to  be  reckoned  as  a 
religion  some  have  been  disposed  to  dispute,  expresses  itself 
by  most  of  the  visible  and  audible  means  used  in  the  cults  of 
other  forms  of  religion. 

The  motives  also  that  prompt  to  the  performance  of  religious 
rites  are  not  to  enter  into  the  question  wliether  the  beliefs 
associated  with  them  are  worthy  to  be  dignified  by  the  name 
"  religion."  Motives  may  vary  widely,  e.  //.,  love  in  an  evan- 
gelical Christian,  pride  in  a  Pharisee,  sensual  lust  in  a 
follower  of  Islam  and  in  a  Mormon,  and  fear  in  tlie  fetich 
worshipper.  Those  motives,  mixed  perhaps  with  otlier  con- 
siderations, are  the  dominant  factor  in  the  government  of  the 
religious  life  of  each. 

We  have  already  seen  in  the  previous  chapter  that  the 
religious  thought  of  the  believer  in  fetichism  does  not  concern 
his  soul  or  its  future.  The  evils  he  would  escape  are  not 
moral  or  spiritual.  The  sense  of  a  great  need  that  makes  him 
look  for  help  outside  of  himself  is  not  based  on  a  desire  to 
obey  God's  will,  but  on  his  and  some  spirit's  co-relation  to  the 
great  needs  of  this  mortal  life. 

The  salvation  sought  being  a  purely  physical  one,  the 
thoughts  that  direct  the  use  of  means  to  that  end  are  limited 


THE   FETICH  — A   WORSHIP  01 

to  pliysical  needs,  and  largely  to  physical  agencies.  But  not 
entirely  :  for  one  of  these  agencies,  as  already  mentioned  in 
the  previous  chapter,  is  prayer ;  other  agencies  are  sacrificial 
offerings,  and  the  use  of  amulet  charms,  or  talismans,  known 
as  fetiches. 

1.  Fetich  Worship  as  performed  hy  Sacrifice  and  other  Offer- 
ings. Sacrifice  is  an  element  in  all  real  worship,  if  by  sacri- 
fice, in  the  widest  sense,  may  be  understood  the  devoting 
of  any  object  from  a  common  to  a  sacred  use,  and  this  irre- 
spective of  the  actual  value  of  the  gift  (as  is  the  case  also 
with  Chinese  paper  imitation  money  scattered  around  the 
grave,  in  Chinese  funeriils).  The  intention  of  the  giver  en- 
nobles it;  the  spirit  being  supposed  in  some  vague  way  to 
be  gratified  by  the  respectful  recognition  of  itself,  and  even 
to  be  pleased  sometimes  by  the  gift  itself. 

(1)  Thus  the  stones  heaped  by  passers-by  at  the  base  of 
some  great  tree  or  rock,  the  leaf  cast  from  the  passing 
canoe  toward  a  point  of  land  on  the  river,  though  intrinsi- 
cally valueless,  and  useless  to  tlie  ombwiri  of  the  spot,  are 
accepted  as  acknowledgments  of  that  ombwiri's  presence. 

"  All  day  we  kept  passing  trees  or  rocks  on  which  were 
placed  little  heaps  of  stones  or  bits  of  wood;  in  passing 
these,  each  of  my  men  added  a  new  stone  or  bit  of  wood,  or 
even  a  tuft  of  grass.  This  is  a  tribute  to  the  spirits,  the 
general  precaution  to  insure  a  safe  return.  These  people 
have  a  vague  sort  of  Supreme  Being  called  Lesa,  who  has 
good  and  evil  passions ;  but  here  (Plateau  of  Lake  Tan- 
ganyika), as  everywhere  else,  the  jMusimo,  or  spirits  of  the 
ancestors,  are  a  leading  feature  in  tlie  beliefs.  They  are  pro- 
pitiated, as  elsewhere,  by  placing  little  heaps  of  stones  about 
their  favorite  haunts.  At  certain  periods  of  the  year  the 
people  make  pilgrimages  to  the  mountain  of  Fwambo-Liamba, 
on  the  summit  of  which  is  a  sort  of  small  altar  of  stones. 
There  they  deposit  bits  of  wood,  to  which  are  attached  scraps 
of  calico,  flowers,  or  beads  ;  this  is  to  propitiate  Lesa. 

"  After  harvest,  for  instance,  they  make  such  an  offering. 
So  when  a  girl  becomes  marriageable,  she  takes  food  with  her, 


92  FETICmSM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

and  goes  up  to  the  mountain  for  several  days.  When  she 
returns,  the  other  women  lead  her  in  procession  through  the 
villages,  waving  long  tufts  of  grass  and  palms."  ^ 

(2)  Other  gifts  are  supposed  to  be  actually  utilized  by  the 
spirit  in  some  essential  way.  In  some  part  of  the  long  single 
street  of  most  villages  is  built  a  low  hut,  sometimes  not 
larger  than  a  dog-kennel,  in  which,  among  all  tribes,  are  hung 
charms ;  or  by  which  is  growing  a  consecrated  plant  (a  lily,  a 
cactus,  a  euphorbia,  or  a  ficus).  In  some  tribes  a  rudely 
carved  human  (generally  female)  figure  stands  in  that  hut,  as 
an  idol.  Idols  are  rare  among  most  of  the  coast  tribes,  but 
are  common  among  all  the  interior  tribes.  That  they  are  not 
now  frequently  seen  on  the  Coast  is,  I  think,  not  due  to  a 
lack  of  faith  in  them,  but  perhaps  to  a  slight  sense  of  civilized 
shame.  The  idol  has  been  the  material  object  most  de- 
nounced by  missionaries  in  their  sermons  against  heathenism. 
The  half-awakened  native  hides  it,  or  he  manufactures  it 
for  sale  to  curio-hunters.  A  really  valued  idol,  supposed  to 
contain  a  spirit,  he  will  not  sell.  He  does  not  always  hide 
his  fetich  charm  worn  on  his  person ;  for  it  passes  muster 
in  his  explanation  of  its  use  as  a  "  medicine." 

That  idol,  charm,  or  plant,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  believed 
for  the  time  to  be  the  residence  of  a  spirit  which  is  to  be 
placated  by  offerings  of  some  kind  of  food.  I  have  seen  in 
those  sacred  huts  a  dish  of  boiled  plantains  (often  by  for- 
eigners miscalled  "  bananas  ")  or  a  plate  of  fish.  This  food 
is  generally  not  removed  till  it  spoils.  Sometimes,  where  the 
gift  is  a  very  large  one,  a  feast  is  made ;  people  and  spirit  are 
supposed  to  join  in  the  festival,  and  nothing  is  left  to  spoil. 
That  it  is  of  use  to  the  spirit  is  fully  believed ;  but  just  how, 
few  have  been  able  to  tell  me.  Some  say  that  the  "  life  "  or 
essence  of  the  food  has  been  eaten  by  the  spirit ;  only  the  form 
of  the  vegetable  or  flesh  remaining  to  be  removed. 

(3)  Blood  sacrifices  are  common.  In  any  great  emergency 
a  fowl  with  its  blood  is  laid  at  that  low  hut's  door.  In  time 
of  great  danger,  an  expected  pestilence,  a  threatened  assault 

1  Decle. 


THE   FETICH  — A  WORSHIP  93 

by  enemies,  or  some  severe  illness  of  a  great  man  or  woman,  a 
goat  or  sheep  is  sacrilicecl. 

At  the  entrance  to  a  village  the  way  is  often  barred  by  a 
temporary  light  fence,  only  a  narrow  arched  gateway  of  sap- 
lings being  left  open.  These  saplings  are  wreathed  with 
leaves  or  flowers.  That  fence,  frail  as  it  is,  is  intended  as  a 
bar  to  evil  spirits,  for  from  those  arched  saplings  hang  fetich 
charms.  When  actual  war  is  coming,  this  street  entrance  is 
barricaded  by  logs,  behind  which  real  fight  is  to  be  made 
against  human,  not  spiritual,  foes.  The  light  gateway  is 
sometimes  further  guarded  by  a  sapling  pinned  to  the  ground 
horizontally  across  the  narrow  threshold.  An  entering  stran- 
ger must  be  careful  to  tread  over  and  not  on  it. 

In  an  expected  great  evil  the  gateway  is  sometimes 
sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  a  sacrificed  goat  or  sheep.  The 
flesh  is  not  wasted  ;  it  is  eaten  by  the  villagers,  and  especially 
by  the  magic  doctor.  Does  not  this  look  like  a  memory  of 
a  tradition  of  the  Passover  and  its  paschal  lamb  ?  And  does 
it  not  suggest  some  thought  of  a  blood  atonement  ? 

(4)  I  have  not  actually  seen,  or  even  heard  of  human  sacri- 
fices in  the  tribes  I  have  personally  visited.  But  on  the  ad- 
jacent Upper  Guinea  Coast,  until  ten  years  ago,  there  were 
human  sacrifices  to  the  sacred  crocodiles  of  the  rivers  of  the 
Niger  Delta.  In  the  oil  rivers  of  that  same  coast  there  was, 
until  recently,  an  annual  sacrifice  (as  in  the  ancient  Nile  days) 
of  a  maiden  to  the  river  spirits  of  trade,  for  success  in  foreign 
commerce. 

Treaties  with  foreign  civilized  nations  have  now  prohibited 
this  sacrifice,  but  the  maiden  has  not  gained  much  in  tlie 
change.  Instead  of  one  being  sacrificed  to  a  brute  crocodile 
to  please  the  spirit  of  trade,  hundreds  are  prostituted  to  please 
brutal,  dissolute  foreigners. 

The  thousands  of  captives  butchered  at  the  "  annual  cus- 
tom" of  Dahomey  were  claimed  by  its  successive  kings,  in 
their  answer  to  the  protests  of  the  ambassadors  from  civilized 
nations,  to  be  required  as  offerings  to  the  safety  of  the  nation, 
the  omission  of  which  would  be  punished  by  the  loss  of  the 


94  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

king's  own  life.  Fearful  as  that  annual  barbarity  was,  I  do 
not  think  that  those  kings  should  properiy  be  called  "  blood- 
thirsty." It  was  their  religion.  All  the  more  dreadful  the 
religion  that  called  for  such  deeds ! 

Here,  again,  the  question  presents  itself  whether  Africa  has 
gained  much  in  the  substitution  of  wicked  white  representa- 
tives of  civilization  for  the  heathen  black  representatives  of 
fetichism.  The  Kongo  River  was  rescued  from  the  cruelties 
and  loss  of  life  in  the  foreign  slave-trade,  only  to  be  subjected 
to  greater  cruelties,  in  its  miscalled  "  Free  State,"  under  the 
control  of  Belgium,  at  the  hands  of  men  like  Major  Lothaire. 

The  following  remarks  of  Menzies  ^  on  the  use  of  sacri- 
fice by  primitive  man  are  descriptive  of  the  interior  tribes  of 
Africa  to-day  :  "  Sacrifice  is  an  invariable  feature  of  early  re- 
ligion. Wherever  gods  are  worshipped,  gifts  and  offerings 
are  made  to  them  of  one  kind  or  another.  It  is  in  this  way 
that,  in  antiquity  at  least,  the  relation  with  the  deity  was  re- 
newed, if  it  had  been  slackened  or  broken,  or  strengthened 
and  made  sure.  Sacrifice  and  worship  are,  in  the  ancient 
world,  identical  terms.  The  nature  of  the  offering  and  the 
mode  of  presenting  it  are  infinitely  various,  but  there  is 
always  sacrifice  in  one  form  or  another.  Different  deities  of 
course  receive  different  gifts ;  the  tree  has  its  roots  watered, 
or  tropliies  of  battle  or  of  the  chase  are  hung  upon  its 
branches ;  horses  are  thrown  into  the  sea.  But  of  primitive 
sacrifice  generally  we  may  afSrm  that  it  consists  of  such  food 
and  drink  as  men  themselves  partake  of.  Wliether  it  be  the 
fruit  of  the  field  or  the  firstlings  of  the  flock  that  is  offered  at 
the  sacred  stone,  whether  the  offering  is  burnt  before,  the 
god  or  set  down  and  left  near  him,  or  whether  he  is  sum- 
moned to  come  down  from  the  sky  or  to  travel  from  the  far 
country  to  which  he  may  have  gone,  it  is  of  the  materials  of 
the  meal  that  the  sacrifice  consists.  In  some  cases  it  ap- 
pears to  be  thought  that  the  god  consumes  the  offering,  as 
wlien  Fire  is  worshipped  witli  offerings  wdiich  he  burns  up, 
or  when  a  fissure  in  the  earth  closes  upon  a  victim ;  but  in 

1  History  of  Religion,  pp.  65,  69. 


THE   FETICH  — A    WORSHIP  95 

most  cases  it  is  only  the  spirit  or  finer  essence  that  the  god 
enjoys ;  the  rest  he  leaves  to  men.  And  thus  sacrifice  is 
generally  accompanied  by  a  meal.  The  offering  is  presented 
to  the  god  whole,  but  the  Avorshi[)pers  help  to  eat  it.  The  god 
gets  the  savor  of  it  which  rises  in  the  air  towards  him,  while 
the  more  material  part  is  devoured  below." 

The  testimony  of  travellers  in  other  parts  of  Africa,  distant 
thousands  of  miles  from  the  West  Coast,  show  that  the  prac- 
tice of  offerings  is  almost  identical  all  over  the  southern  third 
of  the  continent,  the  lines  of  latitude  of  Bantu  tribes  being 
conterminous  with  their  language  and  their  religion. 

Arnot^  says  that  in  South  Africa,  "when  going  to  pray, 
the  Barotse  make  offerings  to  the  spirits  of  their  forefathers 
under  a  tree,  bush,  or  grove  planted  for  the  purpose ;  and 
they  take  a  larger  or  a  smaller  offering,  according  to  the 
measure  of  their  request.  If  the  offering  be  beer,  they  pour 
it  upon  the  ground ;  if  cloth,  it  is  tied  to  a  horn  stuck  in  the 
ground;  if  an  ox  be  slaughtered,  the  blood  is  poured  over  the 
horn,  which,  in  fact,  is  their  altar."     (Ps.  cxviii.  27.) 

In  that  same  region,  among  the  Barotse,  "  Nothing  of  im- 
portance can  be  sanctified  without  a  human  sacrifice,  in  most 
cases  a  child.  First  the  fingei's  and  toes  are  cut  off,  and  the 
blood  is  sprinkled  on  the  boat,  drum,  house,  or  wliatsoever 
may  be  the  object  in  view.  The  victim  is  then  killed,  ripped' 
up,  and  thrown  into  the  river." 

Decle  also'^  describes  the  religious  habits  of  the  Barotse 
tribes  of  Southern  Central  Africa :  "  They  chiefly  worship  the 
souls  of  their  ancestors.  When  any  misfortune  happens,  the 
witch  doctor  divines  with  knuckle-bones  whether  the  ancestor 
is  displeased,  and  they  go  to  the  grave  and  offer  up  sacrifice 
of  grain  or  honey.  .  .  .  They  also  bring  to  the  tombs  cooked 
meats,  which  they  leave  there  a  few  minutes  and  then  eat. 
When  they  go  to  pray  by  a  grave,  they  also  leave  some  small 
white  beads.  Whilst  an  Englishman  was  journeying  to  Lialui, 
he  passed  near  a  little  wood  where  there  lay  a  very  venerated 
chief.  The  boatmen  stopped,  and  having  sacrificed  some 
1  Garenganze,  p.  77.  '^  Three  Years  iu  Savage  Africa. 


96  FETICHISM   IN  WEST   AFRICA 

cooked  millet,  their  headman  designated  a  man  to  offer  up 
a  prayer,  which  ran  thus:  'You  see  us;  we  are  worn  out 
travellers,  and  our  belly  is  empty ;  inspire  the  white  man,  for 
whom  we  row,  to  give  us  food  to  fill  our  stomachs,' " 

Among  the  Wanyamwezi,  "  Every  chief  has  near  his  hut  a 
Musimo  hut,  in  which  the  dead  are  supposed  to  dwell,  and 
where  sacrifices  and  offeiings  must  be  made.  Meat  and  flour 
are  deposited  in  the  Musimo  huts,  and  are  not,  as  with  many 
other  peoples,  consumed  afterwards.  The  common  people 
also  have  their  Musimo  huts,  but  they  are  smaller  than  that 
of  the  chief,  and  the  offerings  they  make  are,  of  course,  not 
so  important  as  his. " 

The  Wanyamwezi  being  great  travellers,  they  have  num- 
berless ways  of  propitiating  the  Musimo.  "  The  night  before 
starting  they  put  big  patches  of  moistened  flour  on  their  faces 
and  breasts.  On  the  way,  if  by  chance  they  are  threatened 
with  war  or  any  other  difficulty,  some  of  them  go  on  ahead 
in  the  early  morning  for  about  a  hundred  yards  along  the 
path  over  which  they  are  about  to  travel.  Then  they  place  a 
hand  on  the  ground,  and  throw  flour  over  it  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  leave  the  impression  of  a  hand  on  the  soil.  At  the  same 
time  they  '  wish '  hard  that  the  journey  may  go  off  well. 
On  the  march,  from  time  to  time  each  of  them  will  deposit  in 
the  same  spot  a  twig  of  wood  or  a  stone  in  such  a  way  that  a 
great  heap  gets  collected.  If  they  halt  in  the  midst  of  high 
grass  each  will  plait  a  handful  of  grass,  which  they  tie  to- 
gether so  as  to  make  a  kind  of  bower.^  In  the  forest,  if  they 
are  pressed  for  time,  each  will  make  a  cut  with  a  blow  of  a 
hatchet  in  a  tree ;  but  if  they  have  time,  they  wiU  cut  down 
trees,  lop  off  the  branches,  and  place  these  poles  against  a  big 
tree ;  in  certain  places  I  have  seen  stacks  of  hundreds  of  them 
around  a  single  tree.  Sometimes  they  will  strip  pieces  of  bark 
from  the  trees,  and  stick  them  on  the  branches,  and  at  others 
they  will  place  a  pole  supported  by  two  trees  right  over  the 
path.  On  it  they  will  hang  up  a  broken  gourd,  or  an  old 
box  made  of  bark.  On  some  occasions  they  will  even  erect  a 
1  I  saw  the  same  on  the  Ogowe.  —  K.  H.  N. 


THE   FETICH  — A   WORSHIP  97 

little  hut  made  of  straw  to  the  Musimo  on  the  road  itself; 
but  this  is  usually  done  when  they  are  going  on  a  hunting 
expedition,  and  not  on  a  journey.  Near  the  villages,  where 
two  roads  meet,  are  usually  found  whole  piles  of  old  pots, 
gourds,  and  pieces  of  iron.^  When  a  hunter  starts  for  the 
chase,  he  prays  to  the  Musimo  to  give  him  good  luck.  If  he 
kills  any  big  game,  he  places  before  the  hut  of  his  Musimo 
the  head  of  the  beast  he  has  killed,  and  inside  a  little  of  the 
flesh."  2 

2.  Just  as  worship  is  an  eminent  part  of  religion,  prayer 
is  usually  a  chief  part  of  religious  worship.  But  in  fetich- 
ism,  though  it  undeniably  has  a  part,  it  is  not  prominent,  and 
not  often  formal  or  public.  It  plays  a  less  obvious  and  less 
frequent  part  than  either  sacrifices  or  the  use  of  charms. 

"  Prayer  is  the  ordinary  concomitant  of  sacrifice ;  the  wor- 
shipper explains  the  reason  of  the  gift,  and  urges  the  deity  to 
accept  it  and  to  grant  the  help  that  is  needed.  The  prayers 
of  the  earliest  stage  are  offered  on  emergencies,  and  often 
appear  to  be  intended  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  god  who 
may  be  engaged  in  another  direction.  The  requests  they  con- 
tain are  of  the  most  primary  sort.  Food  is  asked  for,  success 
in  hunting  or  fishing,  strength  of  arm,  rain,  a  good  harvest, 
children,  and  so  forth.  They  have  a  ring  of  urgency ;  they 
state  the  claims  the  worshipper  has  on  the  god,  and  mention 
his  former  offerings  as  well  as  the  present  one ;  they  praise 
the  power  and  the  past  acts  of  the  deity,  and  adjure  him  by 
his  whole  relationship  to  his  people  (and  also  to  his  enemies) 
to  grant  their  requests."  ^ 

Fetich  prayer  may  be  and  is  offered  without  restriction  by 
any  one,  young  or  old,  male  or  female;  but  to  my  knowl- 
edge it  is  seldom  used  by  the  young.  A  very  intelligent 
woman,  a  member  of  my  Batanga  church,  tells  me  that  when 
she  was  a  child  she  possessed  a  fetich  supposed  to  be  very 
valuable,  which  she  had  inherited  from  her  father.  She 
says   that   when   she    would    be   going   into   the    forest    or 

1  These  piles  I  have  found  at  almost  every  village  I  have  visited.  —  R.  II.  N. 

2  Decle,  p.  346.  3  Menzies. 

7 


98  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

where  she  expected  difficulty  or  danger  or  trouble  or  was 
anxious  for  success,  she  would  hold  the  fetich  in  her  hand, 
and  with  eye  and  thought  directed  toward  it  and  the  spirit  it 
was  supposed  to  contain,  would  utter  a  short  petition  for  aid 
and  protection. 

But  practically  formal  prayer  is  rarely  made.  Ejaculatory 
prayer,  however,  is  made  constantly,  in  the  uttering  of  caba- 
listic words,  phrases,  or  sentences  adopted  by  or  assigned  to 
almost  every  one  by  parent  or  doctor.  They  are  uttered  by 
all  ages  and  both  sexes  at  any  time,  as  a  defence  from  evil, 
on  all  sorts  of  occasions,  —  «•  ^^  when  one  sneezes,  stumbles, 
or  is  otherwise  startled,  etc. 

The  prayers  which  I  have  heard  were  of  adults.  On  a 
journey,  about  1876,  stopping  for  a  night  in  a  village  on  the 
Ogowe  River,  I  saw  the  venerable  chief  stand  out  in  the  open 
street.  He  addressed  the  spirits  of  the  air,  begging  them, 
"Come  not  to  my  town!"  He  recounted  his  good  deeds  — 
praising  himself  as  just,  honest,  and  kind  to  his  neighbors  — 
as  reason  why  no  evil  should  befall  him,  and  closed  with  an 
impassioned  appeal  to  the  spirits  to  stay  away. 

At  another  time,  about  1879,  in  another  Ogowe  village, 
where  a  man's  son  had  been  wounded,  and  a  bleeding  artery 
which  had  been  successfully  closed  had  just  broken  open 
again,  and  the  hemorrhage,  if  not  promptly  checked,  would 
probably  be  fatal,  the  father  ran  out  of  the  hut,  wildly  gesticu- 
lating towards  the  sky,  saying,  "Go  away!  go  away!  O 
ye  spirits!  why  do  you  come  to  kill  my  son?"  And  he 
continued  for  some  time  in  a  strain  of  alternate  pleading  and 
protestation. 

In  another  case  I  saw  a  woman  who  rushed  into  the  street 
objurgating  the  spirits,  and  in  the  next  breath  humbly  sup- 
plicating them,  who,  she  said,  were  vexing  her  child  that  was 
lying  in  convulsions. 

Observe  that  while  these  were  distinctly  prayers,  appeals 
for  mercy,  pathetic,  agonizing   protestations,    there  was   no 
I  praise,  no  love,   no  thanks,  no  confession  of   sin,  —  only  a 
'■  long,  pitiful  deprecation  of  evil. 


THE   FETICH  — A  WORSHIP  99 

There  are  also  prayers  of  blessing.  Parents  in  farewells 
lo  their  children,  or  a  chief  to  his  parting  guest,  or  any  grate- 
ful recipient  of  a  valued  gift,  will  take  the  head  or  hand  of 
the  child,  guest,  or  donor,  and  saying,  "Ibata!"  (blessing), 
or  adding  a  cabalistic  ejaculation,  will  sometimes  "  blow  "  a 
blessing.  From  this  custom  has  arisen  the  statement  in  some 
books  of  travel  that  it  was  an  African  mode  of  honoring  a 
guest  to  spit  on  his  hand.  It  is  true  that  the  sudden  and 
violent  expulsion  of  the  breath  in  "blowing"  the  "Ibata" 
from  the  tip  of  the  tongue  is  apt  to  be  followed  by  an  ejection 
of  more  or  less  saliva,  but  the  kernel  of  the  custom  lies  in 
the  prayer  of  blessing  accompanying  the  act. 

In  auguries  made  by  the  mfumu,  or  witch-doctor,  among  the 
Wanyamwezi,  "the  mfumu  holds  a  kind  of  religious  service; 
he  begins  by  addressing  the  spirits  of  their  forefathers,  im- 
ploring them  not  to  visit  their  anger  upon  their  descendants. 
This  prayer  he  offers  up  kneeling,  bowing  and  bending  to 
the  ground  from  time  to  time.  Then  he  rises,  and  commences 
a  hymn  of  praise  to  the  ancestors,  and  all  join  in  the  chorus. 
Then,  seizing  his  little  gourds,  he  executes  a  pas  seul,  after 
which  he  bursts  out  into  song  again,  but  this  time  singing  as 
one  inspired."  ^ 

3.  The  third  mode  of  worship  has  been  already  mentioned 
in  a  previous  chapter,  viz.,  the  use  of  charms  or  fetiches. 
This  is  the  mode  most  frequently  used ;  and  to  the  descrip- 
tions of  their  forms  of  preparation  and  manner,  universality, 
and  the  various  effects  of  their  use,  the  following  chapters 
are  devoted. 

iDecle. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   FETICH  — WITCHCRAFT  — A  WHITE  ART  — 
SORCERY 

HUNDREDS  of  acts  and  practices  in  the  life  of  Chris- 
tian households  in  civilized  lands  pass  muster  before 
the  bar  of  aesthetic  propriety  and  society,  and  even  of  the 
church,  as  not  only  harmless  and  allowable,  but  as  commend- 
able, and  conducive  to  kindness,  good-will,  and  healthful 
social  entertainment;  but  in  the  doing  of  these  acts  few  are 
aware  of  the  fact  that  some  of  them  in  their  origin  were 
heathenish  and  in  their  meaning  idolatrous,  and  that  long 
ago  they  would  have  brought  on  the  doer  church  censure. 

Norse  legends  and  Celtic  and  Gaelic  folk-lore  abound  in 
superstitions  that  were  held  by  our  forefathers  in  honor  of 
false  gods  and  demons.  Their  Christian  descendants,  to  the 
present  generations  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
delight  our  children  with  the  beautifully  printed  fairy  tale, 
forgetting,  or  not  even  knowing,  that  once,  long  ago,  that 
tale  was  a  tale  of  sin.  The  superstitious  peasant  of  Germany, 
Ireland,  and  other  European  countries,  while  as  at  least  a 
nominal  son  of  the  church  he  worships  God,  fears  the  machi- 
nations of  trolls  and  the  "good  little  people,"  and  wards  off 
their  dreaded  influence  by  vocal  and  material  charms,  —  a 
practice  for  which  the  African  Negro  just  emerging  from 
heathenism  is  debarred  church-membership.  The  practice 
is  common  to  the  three,  —  the  untaught  heathen,  the  ignorant 
peasant,  and  the  enlightened  Christian,  —  but  its  significance 
diifers  for  each.  To  the  Christian  it  is  only  a  national  or 
household  tradition,  without  religious  or  moral  significance, 
and  his  belief  in  the  power  of  the  charm  is  seldom  seri- 
ously held.     To  the  peasant  the  practice  is  also  a  tradition ; 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE    ART  — SORCERY     101 

it  is  not  his  religion,  but  he  thinks  that  somehow  under  the 
divine  Providence,  in  whom  he  believes  and  whom  he  wor- 
ships in  the  church,  it  will  be  conducive  to  his  physical 
well-being.  But  to  the  heathen  it  is  a  part  of  his  religion, 
and  leads  to  the  exclusion  of  the  true  God,  whom  he  does 
not  know,  or  at  least  does  not  worship. 

In  our  Christian  homes,  around  the  Christmas  tree,  with 
all  its  holy,  happy  thoughts,  we  decorate  with  the  holly  bush 
and  we  hang  the  mistletoe  bough,  never  thinking  that  the 
December  festival  itself  was  originally  a  heathen  feast,  and 
that  our  superstitious  forefathers  spread  the  holly  as  a  guard 
against  evil  fairies,  and  hung  the  mistletoe  as  part  of  the 
ceremonies  of  a  Druid's  human  sacrifice. 

The  superstitious  African  Negro  does  precisely  the  same 
thing  to-day,  because  he  believes  in  witchcraft;  the  holly 
bush  not  growing  in  his  tropical  air,  he  has  substituted  the 
cayenne  pepper  bush.  The  witch  or  wizard  whom  he  fears 
can  no  more  pass  over  that  pepper  leaf  with  its  red  pods  than 
the  Irish  fairy  can  dare  the  holly  leaf  with  its  red  berries. 
Superstitious  acts  are  thus  rooted  in  us  all,  heathen  and 
Christian^  the  world  over;  only  with  this  great  difference, 
—  that  to  the  Christian  they  bear  no  religious  or  even  moral 
significance;  to  the  heathen  their  entire  raison  (Vetre  is  that 
they  are  his  religion,  or  rather  part  of  his  worship  in  the 
practice  of  his  religion. 

In  emerging  from  his  heathenism  and  abandoning  his  fetich- 
ism  for  the  acceptance  of  Christianity,  no  part  of  the  process 
is  more  difficult  to  the  African  Negro  than  the  entire  laying 
aside  of  superstitious  practices,  even  after  his  assertion  that 
they  do  not  express  his  religious  belief.  From  being  a  thief, 
he  can  grow  up  an  honest  man ;  from  being  a  liar,  he  can  be- 
come truthful;  from  being  indolent,  he  can  become  diligent; 
from  being  a  polygamist,  he  can  become  a  monogamist;  from 
a  status  of  ignorance  and  brutality,  he  can  develop  into 
educated  courtesy.  And  yet  in  his  secret  thought,  while  he 
would  not  wear  a  fetich,  he  believes  in  its  power,  and  dreads 
its  influence  if  possibly  it  should  be  directed  against  himself. 


102  FETICHISM   IN  WEST   AFRICA 

Some  church-members  thus  believing  and  fearing  do  wear 
fetiches,  claiming  that  their  use  is  simply  defensive.  In  their 
moral  thought  they  make  a  distinction,  which  to  them  is  clear 
and  satisfactory  in  the  present  stage  of  the  enlightenment  of 
their  conscience,  between  the  defensive  and  the  offensive  use 
of  the  fetich,  —  the  latter  is  a  black  art ;  the  former  is  a 
white  art.  Only  the  heathen  and  non-Christian  element 
of  the  community  practise  the  black  art.  They  ignore  not 
God's  existence,  but  deny  that  He  plays  any  part  in  the 
economy  of  human  life.  They  believe  in  evil  spirits,  and 
that  they  themselves  can  have  association  with  them,  by 
which  they  may  obtain  power  for  all  purposes ;  they  use  en- 
chantments to  obtain  that  power;  and  having  it,  or  profess- 
ing to  have  it,  they  exercise  it  for  the  gratification  of  revenge 
or  avarice,  or  in  other  ways  to  injure  other  persons.  They 
become,  in  heart,  muixlerers ;  and  if  occasion  serve,  by  poi- 
son or  other  means,  are  willing  to  become  actual  murderers. 
The  community  regards  them  as  criminals,  and  executes 
them  as  such  when  it  is  proved  that  they  used  black  art  to 
accomplish  the  death  of  some  one  who  has  recently  died. 

The  Christian,  of  course,  will  practise  none  of  the  black 
arts,  but  believing  in  their  existence  and  power  as  permitted 
to  the  Evil  One  under  the  divine  government,  he  is  willing  to 
allow  himself  to  use,  as  a  counter-influence,  a  fetich  of  the 
white  art  in  self-defence. 

The  discussion  of  the  morality  of  this  white  art  is  often 
a  difficult  question  in  the  church  sessions  in  the  discipline 
of  some  offending  church-member.  Few  of  the  natives  have 
emerged  so  far  into  the  light  as  to  stand  squarely  and  fully 
with  the  missionary  in  his  civilized  attitude  toward  this 
question  of  the  allowability  of  a  fetich  charm  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. Even  the  missionary,  if  he  is  wise  and  would 
not  be  unjust,  will  look  with  the  leniency  of  charity  on  an 
offence  of  this  kind  in  the  case  of  a  convert  only  lately  come 
out  of  heathenism,  which  he  would  not  or  should  not  exer- 
cise toward  a  fortune-teller  or  hoodoo  practitioner  under  the 
broad  light  of  civilization. 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE   ART  — SORCERY     103 

In  electing  men  as  ruling  elders  in  the  church  session,  or 
accepting  candidates  for  the  gospel  ministry,  while  a  certain 
degree  of  intellectuality  is  desired,  and  a  certain  amount  of 
education  required,  we  look  first  and  always  for  the  (luality 
of  their  moral  fibre,  whether  or  not  it  be  untrannnelled  by  the 
fetich  cult. 

A  rare  and  noble  example  of  utter  freedom  from  any  such 
superstitious  bias  was  the  late  Rev.  Ibia  ja  Ikenge.  From 
his  youth,  believing  in,  using,  and  practising  fetich  white  art, 
when  he  became  a  Christian  his  conversion  was  so  clear  and 
decided  that  he  was  soon  made  a  ruling  elder,  was  accepted 
as  a  candidate,  grew  up  to  licensure  as  a  probationer,  sub- 
sequently reached  ordination  to  the  ministry,  and  finally  be- 
came pastor  of  the  Corisco  church  of  his  own  Benga  tribe. 
Honored  during  his  ministerial  life  by  all  classes,  foreigners 
and  natives,  he  died  regretted  by  all,  even  by  the  heathen 
whose  sins  he  had  unsparingly  denounced.  But  there  are 
few  so  morally  clear  as  he. 

A  few  years  ago,  while  I  was  in  charge  of  the  Gabun 
church,  in  the  Mpongwe  tribe,  at  the  oldest  station  and  out- 
wardly the  most  civilized  part  of  the  mission,  I  was  surprised 
by  a  charge  of  witchcraft  practice  laid  against  a  very  lady- 
like woman  who  was  one  of  my  intimate  native  friends.  I 
had  known  her  from  her  childhood;  had  admired  her  intelli- 
gence, vivacity,  and  purity;  had  unfortunately  helped  her 
into  a  disastrous  marriage  from  which,  as  her  pastor,  I  after- 
wards rescued  her  with  legal  grounds  for  divorce ;  and  sub- 
sequently she  had  married  a  Sierra  Leone  man  who  professed 
to  be  a  Christian.  It  was  discovered  that  she  had  hanging 
over  the  doorway  in  her  bedroom  a  fetich  regularly  made 
and  bought  from  a  fetich  doctor.  On  trial  of  the  case,  she 
denied  that  it  was  hers,  stated  that  it  was  her  husband's, 
admitted  that  she  knew  of  its  existence  and  use,  that  she 
allowed  it  to  be  placed  in  tlie  usual  spot  for  warding  off  evil 
spirits,  and  was  not  clear  in  denial  of  belief  that  it  might  be 
of  some  use  to  her  in  that  way. 

My  three  ruling  elders  looked  on  the  case  more  lightly  than 


104  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

even  I  was  charitably  disposed  to  do,  and  my  own  duty  as 
a  judge  was  obscured  by  my  friendship  for  the  accused.  It 
was  a  great  pain  for  me  to  have  even  to  rebuke  a  lady  I  had 
so  loved  and  trusted.  She  kept  her  anger  wonderfully  under 
control  while  in  the  session  meeting;  but  she  resented  the 
rebuke,  broke  our  friendship,  and  subsequently  sought  to  in- 
jure me  by  slander.  If  there  was  any  doubt  about  her  com- 
plicity with  the  fetich,  there  was  no  doubt  about  the  fact  of 
her  effort  to  injure  me.  I  did  not  prosecute  her  (as  I  would 
have  done  had  she  slandered  any  one  else),  lest  I  be  suspected 
of  making  my  position  of  session  moderator  an  engine  for  per- 
sonal revenge.  She  subsequently  made  a  noble  reparation. 
She  still  affirms  that  she  does  not  believe  in  fetich,  and  re- 
mains in  "good  standing"  in  the  church,  while  occasionally 
hanging  a  charm  on  her  garden  fence  for  its  "moral  effect" 
on  trespassers. 

Lately  a  fellow  missionary  told  me  that  in  a  conversation 
with  certain  natives,  professed  Christians,  they  admitted  their 
fear  lest  their  nail-clippings  should  be  used  against  them  by 
an  enemy,  and  candidly  acknowledged  that  when  they  pared 
their  nails  they  threw  the  pieces  on  the  thatch  of  the  low 
roof  of  their  house. 

The  missionary  was  surprised,  and,  perhaps  with  a  little 
suspicion  or  perhaps  as  a  test,  turning  to  a  man  present  who 
had  remained  silent  during  the  discussion,  said,  "  And  you  — 
what  do  you  do  with  your  parings?"  He  honestl}'  replied, 
"  I  throw  them  on  the  roof !  "  And  this  man  is  an  elder,  and 
had  been  advanced  to  be  a  local  preacher.  There  is  no  ex- 
pectation of  his  ordination,  for  though  he  can  preach  a  good 
sermon,  he  is  lacking  in  all  other  abilities  desirable  in  a 
minister.  He  is  probably  fifty  years  of  age,  and  for  forty 
years  has  been  in  mission  employ  of  some  kind,  and  living  in 
the  mission  household  much  of  that  time.  But  this  mission 
association  has  not  been  to  him  the  benefit  it  would  have  been 
to  almost  any  one  else ;  for,  being  of  slave  origin,  he  seemed 
to  prefer  to  keep  aloof  from  the  free-born,  grew  up  without 
companionship,  and  is  extremely  secretive.    Though  a  Chris- 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE   ART  — SORCERY    105 

tian  and  a  good  man,  he  had  not  opened  his  inner  life  to  all 
the  ennobling  influences  of  the  light. 

A  difticnlty,  admitted  by  the  missionary  in  judging  of  the 
morality  of  the  use  of  a  fetich  charm,  is  the  explanation 
offered  by  the  natives,  even  by  some  professedly  Christian, 
that  the  charm  is  of  the  nature  of  a  "medicine,"  and, 
generally,  actually  has  medicines  in  it.  It  is  known  to  the 
native  that  civilized  and  Christian  therapeutics  recognize 
a  great  variety  of  medicinal  articles,  solid  and  liquid,  and 
that  they  are  employed  in  a  variety  of  ways,  —  as  lotions, 
ointments,  and  powders ;  and  that  some  are  drunk,  some  are 
rubbed  into  the  skin,  and  some  are  worn  on  the  body,  —  e.  ^.,  a 
sachet  of  sulphur  in  skin  diseases,  or  of  pungent  essential  oils 
to  fend  off  insects,  —  and  that  certain  herbs  whose  scent  is 
attractive  to  fish  are  rubbed  on  the  fisherman's  hook.  The 
missionary  knows,  too,  that  certain  native  medicinal  plants 
are  used,  and  with  efficiency,  in  precisely  these  ways  and 
with  precisely  these  reasons  as,  at  least  in  part,  the  ground 
for  their  use. 

Truth  gains  nothing  by  an  indiscriminate  denunciation  of 
all  native  "  medicine  " ;  for  the  native  knows  by  the  personal 
experience  of  himself  and  his  observation  of  others  that  a 
given  "medicine"  has  helped  or  cured  himself  and  others. 
His  belief  in  this  case  is  not  a  mere  theory;  it  is  actual  fact. 
The  missionary  loses  in  the  native's  respect,  and  in  the  na- 
tive's trust  in  his  judgment  or  the  value  of  his  word,  if  he 
asserts  unqualifiedly  that  "native  medicine"  is  "foolishness," 
especially  if,  as  was  the  case  before  the  desirability  of  medical 
missionaries  was  as  generally  recognized  by  the  church  as  it 
now  is,  the  missionary  was  able  to  give  him  no  substitute  for 
the  magic  doctor.  The  native  Christian's  sense  of  justice 
was  aggrieved  at  being  disciplined  for  the  use  of  a  medicine 
in  sickness,  which  experience  told  him  had  been  of  benefit 
and  in  place  of  which  the  missionary  offered  him  no  other. 

The  native's  error  in  his  judgment  of  the  case  and  the 
missionary's  justification  of  his  position  lay  in  the  idolatrous 
ceremonies  that  are  associated  with  the  administration  of  the 


106  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

medicine.  In  the  native's  ignorant  mind,  and  in  the  distress 
of  his  disease,  he  was  unable  to  see  a  distinction  between  the 
therapeutic  action  of  a  drug  and  the  mode  of  its  administra- 
tion. In  fact,  to  him  that  mode  may  be  as  important  a  factor 
contributive  to  the  desired  result  as  the  drug  itself.  In  the 
heathen  belief  of  the  native  doctor  it  is  admittedly  true  that 
the  administration,  not  the  drug,  is  the  important  factor,  both 
mode  of  administration  and  the  drug  itself  deriving  all  their 
efficiency  from  a  spirit  claimed  by  the  magician  to  be  under 
his  control,  which  is  in  some  vague  way  pleased  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  the  particular  drug  and  those  special  ceremonies. 
^  The  native  doctor  does  not  understand  therapeutics  as  such. 
Some  one  of  his  ancestors  happened  to  observe  that  a  certain 
leaf,  bark,  or  root  exhibited  internally  proved  efficient  in 
cases  where  the  symptoms  indicated  a  certain  disease  which  he 
had  failed  to  cure  by  his  dances,  drums,  auguries,  and  other 
enchantments.  Not  knowing  the  modus  operandi  of  the  drug 
itself,  he  had  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  finally 
happily  found  the  adjuvant  herb  necessary  to  please  the 
spirit  for  whom  he  had  been  making  enchantments,  without 
which  herb  the  spirit  had  hitherto  withheld  its  assistance. 
And  ever  afterward  the  secret  of  this  particular  drug  was 
guarded  by  his  family,  the  knowledge  of  its  tree  being  handed 
down  as  an  heirloom,  the  secret  kept  as  jealously  and  care- 
fully as  the  recipe  for  the  proprietary  medicine  of  any  quack 
in  civilized  lands.  In  his  medical  ethics  there  was  no  quce 
prosunt  omnibus. 

The  dividing  line  of  morality  between  the  fetich  doctor 
and  the  Christian  physician  is  a  narrow  but  deep  chasm. 
The  latter  knows  that,  with  all  his  skill  in  physiology  and 
the  infallibility  of  his  drug's  indication,  results  lie  in  the 
hand  of  God,  with  whom  are  the  issues  of  life  and  death, 
who  has  sovereignly  and  beneficently  endowed  certain  plants 
or  minerals  with  properties  befitting  certain  pathological  con- 
ditions. The  former  ignores  God,  and  firmly  believes  that 
his  own  enchantments  have  subsidized  the  power  of  a  spirit, 
so  that  the  spirit  itself  is  to  enter  into  the  body  of  the  patient, 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE   ART  — SORCERY     107 

and,  searching  through  his  vitals,  drive  out  the  antagoniz- 
ing spirit,  which  is  tlie  supposed  actual  cause  of  the  disease. 
The  etiology  of  disease  is  to  the  native  obscure.  His  at- 
tempts at  explanation  are  somewhat  inconsistent;  the  sick- 
ness is  spoken  of  as  a  disease,  and  yet  the  patient  is  said  to 
be  sick  because  of  the  presence  of  an  evil  spirit,  which  being 
driven  out  by  the  magician's  benevolent  spirit  the  patient 
will  recover. 

The  drug  exhibited  with  the  ceremonies  by  which  the 
friendly  spirit  is  induced  to  enter  the  body  is  entirely  sec- 
ondary and  adjuvant,  and  is  not  supposed  to  be  any  more 
efficient  in  producing  a  cure  than  was  the  Old  Testament 
incense  of  the  Temple  ritual  in  obtaining  an  answer  to  prayer. 

But  the  drug  is  often  a  really  valuable  medicine,  and  does 
cure  the  patient.  Yet  the  native  Christian  must  be  forbidden 
to  submit  to  its  use,  because  of  the  invariably  associated 
heathen  ceremonies.  The  magician  alone  knows  from  what 
plant  the  drug  came,  and  he  positively  refuses  to  administer 
it  vmless  its  associated  ceremonies  are  carefully  observed. 
For  the  Christian  to  consent  to  do  that,  is  to  "kiss  the 
calves "  ^  of  idolatrous  Israel,  or  to  partake  of  the  "  meats 
offered  to  idols."  ^ 

The  manner  of  practising  the  white  art  by  the  magic 
doctor  may  be  purely  ritual  without  his  making  or  the 
patient's  wearing  any  material  amulet,  but  the  performance 
is  none  the  less  fetich  in  its  character. 

According  to  the  usual  procedure  an  article  is  prepared 
with  incantations  referring  to  spiritual  influences  to  be  worn 
by  the  applicant  either  as  a  cure  for  an  actually  existing 
disease  or  any  other  expected  danger,  or,  irrespective  of 
disease,  for  the  attainment  of  a  desired  object  or  for  suc- 
cess in  some  cherished  plan.  Its  application  may  be  as 
limitless  as  the  entire  range  of  human  desire. 

The  first  step  in  the  process  is  the  selection  of  an  object 
in  which  to  enclose  the  various  articles  deemed  necessary  to 
attract  and  please  the  spiritual  being  whose  aid  is  to  be  in- 

*  Hosea  xiii.  2.  2  ^^ts  xv.  29, 


108  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

voked.  In  this  selection  it  is  not  probable  that  superstitious 
or  other  moral  consideration  enters.  It  is  simply  a  matter 
of  taste  as  to  shape  or  availability  or  convenience.  The 
article  usually  chosen  is  a  horn  of  a  gazelle  or  young  ante- 
lope, or  of  a  goat.  The  ground  for  the  choice  is  availa- 
bility; those  animals  are  common.  The  horns  are  preserved 
and  are  therefore  always  at  hand.  They  are  small,  light,  and 
easily  carried.  They  are  durable,  not  liable  to  rust  and  de- 
cay, as  would  be  an  article  of  vegetable  origin,  and  they 
have  a  convenient  cavity. 

The  next  step  in  the  process  is  the  selection  of  the  sub- 
stances which  are  to  be  packed  into  the  hollow  of  the  horn. 
These  are  of  both  animal  and  vegetable  origin,  but  mostly 
vegetable.  They  may  be  very  absurd  to  our  civilized  view, 
they  may  be  disgusting  and  even  filthy;  but  they  are  all 
ranked  as  "medicine,"  have  actually  some  fitness  to  the  end 
in  view,  as  described  in  the  previous  chapter,  and  are  to  be 
as  carefully  regarded  as  are  the  ingredients  of  a  physician's 
prescription  by  a  druggist.  Their  absurdity  must  not  militate 
against  the  view  of  them  as  "medicine,"  even  to  a  civilized 
mind.  We  are  not  to  forget  that,  all  superstitious  and 
fetich  ideas  aside,  our  own  pharmacopoeia  one  hundred 
years  ago  contained  animal  products  of  supposed  therapeutic 
value  that  were  clumsy,  annoying,  and  even  disgusting. 
Indeed,  it  is  only  in  very  modern  medicine  that  the  profes- 
sion have  thought  it  worth  while  to  regard  the  matter  of 
agreeable  look  and  pleasant  taste.  Homoeopathy,  even  if  we 
do  not  all  believe  in  it,  must  be  given  credit  for  at  least 
eliminating  nauseous  taste  from  the  attributes  of  a  good 
medicine,  even  of  an  emetic. 

From  the  wide  range  of  substances,  mineral,  animal,  and 
vegetable,  the  magic  doctor  takes  generally  some  plant. 
Indeed,  so  associated  is  the  doctor's  thought  of  a  tree  and 
some  spirit  belonging  to  it,  that  an  educated  and  very  intelli- 
gent native  chief  at  Gabun  who  still  clings  to  many  heathen 
practices,  of  whom  recently  I  asked  an  explanation  of  fetich 
from  the  native  point  of  view,  said  sententiously,  "A  prin- 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE   ART  — SORCERY     109 

ciple  of  fetich  comes  from  trees."  This  curried  to  me  very 
little  meaning.  I  asked  him  to  explain  at  length.  He  did 
so.  He  said  that  in  the  long  ago,  while  still  his  ancestors 
knew  of  God  and  had  not  entirely  forgotten  to  give  him  some 
kind  of  worship,  their  medicine  men  were  botanists,  and, 
like  Solomon,  "spake  of  trees."  The  herbs  and  barks  they 
used  were  employed  solely  for  their  own  intrinsically  cura- 
tive qualities.  But  as  people  became  more  degraded  and 
"like  people,  like  priest,"  the  medicine  men  added  a  ritual  of 
song,  dances,  incantations,  and  auguries  by  which  to  dignify 
their  profession  with  mystery.  As  they  grew  in  power,  they 
added  claims  of  spiritual  influence,  by  which  to  impress  their 
patients  with  fear  and  to  exact  obedience  even  from  kings, 
until  finall}'  the  idea  of  a  spirit  as  the  efficient  agent  in  the 
cure  was  substituted  for  that  of  the  drug  itself,  and  fetich 
belief  dominated  all. 

The  reason  for  the  choice  of  one  tree  rather  than  another 
in  a  given  case  of  sickness  is  almost  impossible  to  find  out. 
Perhaps  there  is  a  vague  tradition  of  the  fact  that  it 
was  used  long  ago  by  those  who  first  happened  to  discover 
that  it  had  real  medicinal  quality,  and  the  present  generation 
continues  to  use  it,  though  having  forgotten  what  that  quality 
was,  or  even  that  it  had  any  intrinsic  quality  of  its  own,  their 
etiology  of  disease  assigning  as  the  cause  of  all  sickness  the 
antagonistic  presence  of  an  evil  spirit. 

The  laity,  heathen  and  Christian,  positively  do  not  know 
from  what  particular  tree  the  leaf  or  piece  of  bark  was  ob- 
tained, and  they  would  not  be  able  to  recognize  it  even  if 
they  were  allowed  to  see  it.  They  see  only  the  dry  powder 
or  ashes.  Even  if  the  heathen  laity  were  able  to  tell  me, 
they  will  not  do  so.  Even  if  they  were  bribed,  I  would  have 
no  certainty  that  they  were  showing  me  the  plant  that  was 
actually  used;  for  they  would  know  that  I  would  have  no 
means  of  comparing  specimens  or  of  proving  their  deception. 
The  native  will  tell  foreigners  many  things  for  friendship  or 
for  regard,  and  he  enjoys  conversation  with  us ;  but  supersti- 
tion slams  his  heart's  door  shut  when  he  is  asked  to  reveal 


110  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

secrets  of  the  spirits.  His  prompt  thought  is:  "  White  man's 
knowledge  has  given  him  power.  There  is  little  left  of  land, 
authority,  women,  or  wealth  in  my  country  that  he  has  not 
seized.  Shall  I  add  to  his  power  by  telling  him  the  secrets 
of  my  spirits?"  Of  course  the  magic  doctor  will  not  tell. 
That  would  be  giving  himself  entirely  away. 

Even  Christian  men  and  women  who  have  inherited  from 
a  parent  knowledge  of  some  plant,  and  who  use  it  rationally 
for  its  purely  medicinal  quality  without  any  reference  what- 
ever to  spiritual  influences,  can  barely  be  induced  to  tell  me 
of  it.  The  fee  they  obtain  is  part  of  their  means  of  living. 
They  make  honest  "medicine  "  in  the  circle  of  their  acquaint- 
ances for  certain  sicknesses  for  which  their  drug  happens  to  be 
fitted.  Of  a  cure  for  any  other  sickness  they  know  nothing, 
and  must  themselves  go  to  some  one  else  who  happens  to  pos- 
sess the  knowledge. 

Even  by  me  my  native  friends  —  though  with  their  personal 
respect  or  affection  for  me  they  would  be  willing  to  do 
much  —  do  not  like  to  be  asked.  They  know  that  I,  in  ask- 
ing for  information,  expect  to  utilize  it  in  letters  or  lectures 
or  books.  Their  secret  would  not  be  safe  even  with  me, 
and  it  may  die  with  them.  One  of  the  noblest  of  my  native 
female  friends  at  Gabun,  a  Christian,  well  educated,  with 
only  a  minimum  of  superstition  remaining,  and  no  belief  at 
all  in  fetich,  inherited  from  her  mother  much  botanical  and 
medicinal  knowledge.  I  observe  her  decocting  a  medi- 
cine for  a  sick  friend,  and  I  ask  her,  "What  medicine 
is  that?"  She  turns  away  her  usually  frank  eyes  and  simply 
says,  "  Sijavi  "  (leaves).  "  Yes,  I  see  they  are  leaves.  But 
I  asked  you  what  they  are.  Where  do  you  get  them?" 
With  eyes  still  turned  away,  she  only  says,  "Go-iga"  (in 
the  forest).  "Exactly;  of  course  it's  a  plant.  But  is  it  a 
tree  or  a  vine  or  a  shrub,  or  what?"  And  she  looks  at  me 
steadily,  and  quietly  says,  "Mi  amie "  (I  don't  know).  I 
have  long  ago  learned  that  "mi  amie,"  though  only  some- 
times true,  is  not  always  a  lie.  It  is  equivalent  to  our  con- 
ventional "Not  at  home,"  or  a  polite  version  of,  "Ask  me 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE   ART  — SORCERY     111 

no  questions  and  I  '11  tell  you  no  lies."  From  my  friend  it 
is  a  kind  notilieation  that  the  conversation  had  hetter  be 
changed.  It  having  reached  this  acute  stage,  the  pursuance 
of  it  would  be  worse  than  useless.  I  talk  about  something 
else,   and  immediately  she  resumes  her  wonted  cordiality. 

Probably  the  particular  herb  selected  by  the  fetich-man 
does  possess  some  therapeutic  value  (for  cures  are  effected^ 
of  which  he  does  not  himself  know.  He  knows  that  that 
plant  was  said  by  his  ancestors  to  be  the  proper  one  to  use 
in  case  of  a  certain  sickness,  but  knowledge  of  the  raison 
cVuser  has  been  lost. 

The  use  of  drugs  in  decoctions  is  less  likely  to  be  merely 
superstitious.  The  fresh  leaves  and  barks  are  recognized. 
There  is  not  likely  to  be  a  secret  about  them.  Whatever 
of  fetich  is  introduced  in  the  case  will  be  in  the  mode  of 
administration. 

The  next  step,  the  admixture  of  the  ingredients,  is  secret. 
They  are  ground  or  triturated,  or  reduced  to  ashes,  and 
only  the  ash  or  charcoal  of  their  wood  is  used.  Among  the 
common  ingredients  are  colored  earths,  chalk,  or  potter's  blue 
clays.  Beyond  the  usual  constituents  constantly  employed, 
there  are  other  single  ones,  which  vary  according  to  the  end 
to  be  obtained  by  the  user  of  the  fetich,  —  for  one  end,  as  else- 
where already  mentioned,  some  small  portion  of  an  enemy's 
body ;  for  another,  an  ancestor's  powdered  brain  ;  for  another, 
the  liver  or  gall-bladder  of  an  animal ;  for  another,  a  finger 
of  a  dead  first-born  child ;  for  another,  a  certain  fish ;  and  so 
on  for  a  thousand  possibilities.  These  ingredients  are  com- 
pounded in  secret,  and  with  public  drumming,  dancing, 
songs  to  the  spirit,  looking  into  limpid  water  or  a  mirror, 
and  sometimes  with  the  addition  of  jugglers'  tricks,  e.  g.,  the 
eating  of  fire. 

The  ingredients  having  been  thus  properly  prepared,  and 
the  spirit,  according  to  the  magician's  declaration,  having 
associated  itself  lovingly  with  these  mixed  articles,  they  and 
it  are  put  into  the  cavity  of  the  selected  horn  or  other  hollow 
thing  (a  gourd,  a  nut-shell,  and  so  forth).     They  are  packed 


112  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

in  firmly.  A  black  resin  is  plastered  over  the  opening.  Per- 
haps also  a  twine  is  netted  tightly  on  the  top  of  it.  A  red 
paint  —  triturated  red-wood  mixed  with  palm  or  other  oil  — 
is  daubed  on  it.  While  the  resin  is  still  soft,  the  red  tail- 
feathers  of  the  gray  African  parrot  are  stuck  into  it.  This 
description  is  typical.  It  would  be  equally  true  if  the  chosen 
material  object  had  no  cavity,  e.  g.,  if  it  were  a  pebble  or  a 
piece  of  bark;  in  which  case  the  sacred  ingredients  plas- 
tered on  it  would  be  held  in  situ  by  the  twine  netting. 
A  hole  is  bored  in  the  apex  of  the  horn,  and  it  is  hung  by  a 
string  from  the  neck,  arm,  waist,  or  ankle  of  the  purchaser, 
or  from  his  door,  roof,  or  garden  fence ;  or  from  the  prow  of 
his  canoe;  or  from  any  one  of  a  hundred  other  points,  ac- 
cording to  the  convenience  of  the  owner  or  the  object  to  be 
obtained  by  its  use. 

Those  objects  may  be,  all  of  them,  not  only  desirable,  but 
commendable,  even  from  a  Christian  point  of  view.  In  the 
exercise  of  the  white  art  there  is  no  ill-will  to  or  malice 
against  any  other  known  person.  The  owner  of  the  fetich 
amulet  is  only  using,  from  his  point  of  view,  one  of  the 
known  means  of  success  in  life,  —  somewhat  as  a  business 
man  in  civilized  lands  uses  his  signs  and  tricks  of  trade  to 
attract  and  influence  customers. 

It  is  true  that  our  native  convert,  in  abjuring  fetich  and 
refraining  from  the  white  art,  is  at  a  disadvantage,  humanly 
speaking,  alongside  of  his  heathen  fellow,  just  as  the  honest 
grocer  who  does  not  adulterate  his  foods  is  somewhat  at  a 
disadvantage  with  the  man  who  does. 

The  heathen,  armed  with  his  fetich,  feels  strong.  He 
believes  in  it;  has  faith  that  it  will  help  him.  He  can  see  it 
and  feel  it.  He  goes  on  his  errand  inspired  with  confidence 
of  success.  Confidence  is  a  large  part  of  life's  battle.  If  he 
should  happen  to  fail,  he  excuses  the  failure  by  remembering 
that  he  had  not  obeyed  all  the  minute  "  orunda  "  directions 
that  the  magician  told  him  to  follow.  It  is  entirely  in  his 
power  carefully  to  obey  all  directions  next  time;  and  then 
he  cannot  possibly  fail!     The  Christian  convert  is  weak  in 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE   ART  — SORCERY     113 

his  fiiitli.  He  would  like  to  have  Koniething  tiuigihle.  He 
is  not  sure  that  lie  will  succeed  on  his  enand.  He  goes  at 
it  somewhat  half-hearted,  and  prohahly  fails.  His  not  very 
encouraging  explanation  is  that  God  is  trying  his  faith. 
That  explanation  is  perhaps  not  the  true  one,  but  it  is  suffi- 
cient as  his  explanation.  But  it  does  not  nerve  him  for  the 
next  effort;  only  the  strong  rise  to  overcoming  faith.  The 
weak  ask  the  missionary  whether  they  may  not  be  allowed  to 
carr}'  a  fetich  only  for  "show."  That  "show"  is  for  effect 
on  a  heathen  competitor;  for  the  moral  effect  on  that  com- 
petitor's mind,  —  that  he  should  not  think  that  the  convert, 
in  becoming  a  Christian,  was  at  a  disadvantage  as  to  chances 
of  success  in  the  race  with  him.  But  that  would  be  allow- 
ing even  the  "appearance  of  evil." 

It  was  actually  true,  in  the  early  days  of  mission  effort,  that 
converts  were  oppressed  by  heathen  under  the  idea  that,  as 
the  gospel  proclaimed  by  the  missionary  was  a  message  of 
peace,  all  the  "  peace  "  was  to  be  on  the  Christian's  side,  and 
that  he  dared  not  strike  a  blow  even  in  self-defence.  But  we 
did  not  understand  the  angels'  song  of  good-will  as  explained 
by  the  followers  of  George  Fox,  and  by  precept  and  example 
we  allowed  the  use  of  force  in  the  defence  of  right. 

As  to  the  use  of  fetich  by  those  who  did  not  really  believe 
in  it,  it  was  true  that  some  Europeans,  non-Christian  men  in 
their  trade  with  the  natives,  seeing  what  a  power  the  fetich 
was  in  the  native  thought,  and  knowing  that  it  was  exercised 
against  themselves,  deemed  it  a  matter  simply  of  sharp  prac- 
tice to  adopt  a  fetich  themselves,  and  play  the  native  at  his 
o^\  n  game.  To  my  knowledge  this  was  done  by  an  English- 
man now  dead.  I  was  intimately  acquainted  with  him  ;  and 
tliough  his  morals  were  objectionable  and  his  religion  agnos- 
ticism, I  enjoyed  his  society.  He  was  a  gentleman  in  man- 
ners, intelligent,  well-read,  interested,  in  common  with  myself, 
in  African  philology  and  ethnology,  and  his  river  steamers 
often  generously  helped  me  in  my  itinerations.  His  trade 
interests  were  large  ;  he  spoke  the  native  language  well,  was 
practically  acquainted  with  native  customs  and  native  mode 


114  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

of  thought.  He  was  a  good  hater  and  a  firm  friend,  strict 
with  subordinates  to  the  point  of  severity,  but  on  occasions 
1  free-handedly  generous.  Naturally  such  a  character,  wliile 
'  it  made  for  him  many  friends,  developed  some  enemies.  A 
few  hated  him,  most  liked  him,  even  while  all  feared  him. 
To  checkmate  them  on  their  own  ground  and  to  carry  pres- 
tige in  dealing  with  the  heathen  chiefs  of  wild  tribes,  he  caused 
to  be  made  for  himself,  and  allowed  it  to  be  known  in  ad- 
vance that  he  carried,  a  powerful  fetich.  The  effect  was  very 
decided  in  increasing  his  power,  influence,  and  trade  success, 
so  successful  that  I  am  not  sure  but  that  he  grew  himself  to 
have  some  faith  in  it,  —  an  illustration  of  the  oft-noted  fact 
in  moral  philosophy  that  non-Christian  credulity  often  leads 
men's  beliefs  further  than  does  Christian  faith.  The  after  his- 
tory of  my  trader  friend  is  a  sad  illustration  of  the  wings  that 
ill-gotten  wealth  develops.  His  fetich  assisted  in  amassing  a 
fortune  several  times  over,  but  it  did  not  retain  it  for  him. 
He  died  in  pitiful  want. 

Practice  of  this  white  art  holds  all  over  South  Africa  and 
among  all  its  tribes.  "  They  believe  in  charms,  fetiches,  and 
witchcraft.  The  latter  is  the  source  of  great  dread  to  a  Ma- 
shona,  who  fears  that  death  or  accident  may  overtake  him 
through  the  instrumentality  of  some  fellow-being  who  may 
perchance  hold  against  him  a  grudge.  For  the  purpose  of 
avoiding  tliese  calamities,  charms  are  worn  about  the  person, 
usually  around  the  neck.  Divining  bones  or  blocks  of  wood 
called  '  akata '  are  thrown  by  the  witch-doctors  to  discover 
a  witch  or  evil  spirit,  and  they  are  also  employed  to  ascertain 
the  probable  results  of  a  journey,  a  hunt,  or  a  battle,  —  in 
short,  any  and  all  of  the  events  of  life."  ^ 

"  The  tribes  we  have  passed  through  seem  to  have  one  com- 
mon religion,  if  it  can  be  called  by  that  name.  They  say 
there  is  one  great  spirit,  who  rules  over  all  the  other  spirits ; 
but  they  worship  and  sacrifice  to  the  spirits  of  ancestors,  so 
far  as  I  can  learn,  and  have  a  mass  of  fetich  medicines  and 
enchantments.      The  hunter  takes  one  kind  of  chann  with 

^  Brown,  On  the  South  African  Frontier,  p.  1 13. 


WITCHCRAFT  — A   WHITE   ART  — SORCERY     115 

him ;  the  warrior  another.  For  divining  they  have  a  basket 
lilled  with  bones,  teeth,  finger-nails,  claws,  seeds,  stones,  and 
such  articles,  whicii  are  rattled  by  the  diviner  till  the  spirit 
comes  and  speaks  to  him  by  the  movement  of  these  things. 
AVhen  the  spirit  is  reluctant  to  be  brought  up,  a  solemn  dirge 
is  chanted  by  the  people.  All  is  attention  while  the  diviner 
utters  a  string  of  short  sentences  in  different  tones,  which  are 
repeated  after  him  by  the  audience."  ^ 

1  Arnot,  Garenganze,  p.  106. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  FETICH  —  WITCHCRAFT  —  A  BLACK  ART  — 
DEMONOLOGY 

THE  distinction  sought  to  be  made  by  the  half -civilized 
Negro  between  a  white  art  and  a  black  art,  as  a  jus- 
tification of  his  practice  of  fetich  enchantments,  lies  in  the 
object  to  be  obtained  by  their  use.  He  vainly  tries  to  find 
a  parallel  to  them  in  Christian  use  of  fire-arms,  —  proper  for 
defence,  improper  for  unprovoked  assault.  The  black  art  he 
admits  is  wrong,  its  object  being  to  kill  or  injure  some  one 
else ;  the  white  he  thinks  allowable,  because  with  it  he  acts 
simply  on  the  defensive.  He  wishes  to  ward  off  a  possible 
blow  of  an  unseen  foe  aimed  at  himself.  He  professes  his 
intention  not  to  strike  or  take  otherwise  active  measures 
to  injure  any  known  person.  After  every  allowance  made, 
the  distinction  between  the  arts  as  moral  and  immoral  is  not 
a  clear  one.  They  differ  only  in  their  degree  of  immorality. 
The  means  both  use  are  immoral,  not  justified  by  the  pos- 
sible goodness  of  the  desired  end,  and  not  sanctified  by  the 
intention  of  the  user.  Both  use  fetiches.  Fetich,  if  it  has 
power  at  all,  is  not  of  God;  if  it  is  powerless,  it  is  folly. 
Thus,  in  every  and  any  case,  it  dishonors  Crod. 

But  whatever  doubt  there  might  have  been  as  to  the 
allowability  of  white  art  practice,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to 
the  immorality  of  black  art.  It  always  contemplates  a  pos- 
sible taking  of  life. 

The  term  "  witchcraft,"  which  attaches  itself  to  all  fetich- 
ism,  localizes  itself  in  the  black  art  practice,  which  is  thus 
pre-eminently  known  as  "witchcraft."  Its  practitioners  are 
all  "  wizards  "  or  "  witches."     The  user  of  the  white  is  not 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOGY      117 

so  designated,  lie  or  she  does  not  deny  the  use ;  it  is 
open  iind  without  any  sense  of  criminality  in  the  eyes  of  the 
connuunity,  however  much  he  or  she  may  endeavor  to  sup- 
press the  fact  from  tlie  knowledge  of  church  officers.  But 
a  practitioner  of  the  black  art  denies  it  and  carries  on  his 
practice  secretly. 

The  above  distinction  is  observed  by  travellers  in  other 
parts  of  Africa,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  quotations, 
which  give  also  an  interesting  exposition  of  the  ceremonies 
and  practices  of  the  black  art  in  different  regions : 

"  Among  the  jNIatabele  of  South  Africa,"  says  Decle,  "  it  is 
well  understood  that  there  were  two  kinds  of  witchcraft.  One 
was  practised  by  the  witch-doctors  and  the  king,  such  as,  for 
instance,  the  '  making  of  medicine '  to  bring  on  rain,  or  the 
ceremonies  carried  out  by  the  witch-doctors  to  appease  the 
spirits  of  ancestors.^  The  other  witchcraft  was  supposed  to 
consist  of  evil  practices  pursued  to  cause  sickness  or  death. 

"According  to  native  ideas,  all  over  Africa,  such  a  thing 
as  death  from  natural  causes  does  not  exist.  Whatever  ill 
befalls  a  man  or  a  family,  it  is  always  the  result  of  witchcraft, 
and  in  every  case  the  witch-doctors  are  consulted  to  find  out 
who  has  been  guilty  of  it.  In  some  mstances  the  witch- 
doctors declare  that  the  evil  has  been  caused  by  the  angry 
spirits  of  ancestors ;  in  which  case  they  have  to  be  propi- 
tiated through  the  medium  of  the  witch-doctors.  In  other 
cases  they  point  out  some  one  or  several  persons  as  having 
caused  the  injury  by  making  charms ;  and  whoever  is  so 
accused  by  the  witchcraft  doctor  is  immediately  put  to  death, 
his  wife  and  the  whole  of  his  family  sharing  his  fate.  To 
bewitch  any  one,  according  to  Matiibele  belief,  it  is  sufficient 
to  spread  medicine  on  his  path  or  in  his  hut.  There  are  also 
numerous  other  modes  of  working  charms ;  for  instance,  if 
you  want  to  cause  an  enemy  to  die,  you  make  a  clay  figure 
that  is  supposed  to  represent  him.  With  a  needle  you  pierce 
the  figure,  and  your  enemy,  the  first  time  he  comes  in  con- 
tact with  a  foe,  will  be  speared. 

^  This  would  be  what  I  liave  deuominated  the  "  white  art."  —  R.  H.  N. 


118  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

"The  liver  and  entrails  of  a  crocodile  are  supposed  to  be 
most  powerful  charms,  and  whoever  becomes  possessed  of 
them  can  cause  the  death  of  any  man  he  pleases.  For  that 
reason,  killing  a  crocodile  is  a  very  heinous  crime.  ^ 

"  While  I  was  in  Matabele-land,  a  crocodile  was  one  day 
found  speared  on  the  bank  of  a  river.  The  witch-doctors 
were  consulted  in  order  to  find  out  who  had  been  guilty  of 
the  deed;  and  six  people  were  denounced  as  the  offenders 
and  put  to  death  with  their  families. 

"  Of  witch-doctors  there  are  two  kinds,^  The  first  deliver 
oracles  by  bone-throwing.  They  have  three  bones  carved 
with  different  signs;  these  they  throw  up,  and  according  to 
the  position  they  assume  when  falling,  and  the  side  on  which 
they  fall,  they  make  the  prediction.  The  other  kind  deliver 
their  oracles  in  a  slow  and  very  shrill  chant.  Both  are 
supposed  to  be  on  speaking  terms  with  spirits.  They  are  in 
constant  request,  but  are  usually  poorly  paid.  Their  influ- 
ence, however,  is  tremendous ;  and  in  Lo-Bengula's  time 
their  power  was  as  great  as,  if  not  greater  than,  the  king's, 
Lo-Bengula  always  kept  two  or  three  of  them  near  him. 
Chief  among  their  works  was  that  of  rain-making ;  this  was 
done  with  a  charm  made  from  the  blood  and  gall  of  a  black 
ox.  No  witch-doctors,  however,  could  make  rain  except  by 
the  orders  of  the  king.  It  was  a  risky  trade ;  for  they  were 
put  to  death  if  they  failed  in  their  endeavors  to  produce  rain. 
Dreams  are  considered  of  deep  significance  by  the  witch- 
doctors. Madmen  are  supposed  to  be  possessed  of  a  spirit, 
and  were  formerly  under  the  protection  of  the  king. 

"  One  of  the  most  remarkable  ceremonies  that  used  to  be 
performed  by  the  witch-doctors  was  that  of  '  smelling  out '  the 
witches  (wizards?).  On  the  first  moon  of  the  second  month 
of  the  year  all  the  various  regiments  gathered  at  Buluwayo, 
and  held  a  big  dance  in  which  the  king  took  part ;  usually, 
from  12,000  to  15,000  warriors  assembled  for  this  ceremony. 
After  the  dance  the  smelling  of  witches  began.     The  various 

1  In  that  part  of  Africa.  —  R.  H.  N. 

^  Really,  only  a  difference  in  administration.  —  R.  H.  N. 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOGY  11 9 

regiments  being  formed  in  (M'cscent  shape,  the  king  took  his 
stand  in  front  surrounded  by  the  doetoi-s,  usually  women. 
Then  began  a  slow  song  aceompanied  by  a  dance  ;  they  car- 
ried in  their  hand  a  small  wand.  Gradually  the  song  and  the 
dance  became  quicker ;  they  seemed  to  be  possessed.  They 
rushed  madly  about,  passing  in  front  of  the  soldiers,  pretend- 
ing to  smell  them.  All  of  a  sudden  they  stopped  in  front  of  a 
man,  and  touching  him  with  their  wands,  began  howling  like 
maniacs ;  the  man  was  immediately  removed  and  put  to  death. 
In  this  way  hundreds  of  people  were  killed  every  year  during 
the  big  dance.  No  one,  however  high  his  position,  was  pro- 
tected against  the  mandate  of  the  witch-doctors,  usually  the 
tools  of  the  king,  who  found  in  this  a  way  of  getting  rid  of 
his  enemies,  or  of  doing  away  with  those  in  high  station  whose 
loyalty  he  had  reason  to  doubt.  Other  crimes  are  few  except 
tlie  ever-present  witchcraft.  To  bewitch  an  enemy  on  the 
Tanganika  plateau,  you  scatter  a  red  powder  round  his  hut 
and  a  white  one  near  his  door ;  this  never  fails  to  kill, 

"  Ordeal  by  muavi  is,  of  course,  flourishing  ;  with  the  en- 
lightened modification  that,  if  the  accused  does  not  die,  he  can 
recover  damages  from  the  accuser.  In  the  Mambwe  district 
the  muavi  is  made  of  a  poisonous  bean."  ^ 

The  same  "  medicines,"  the  same  dances,  the  same  enchant- 
ments used  in  the  black  art,  are  used  in  the  professedly 
innocent  white  art ;  the  chief  difference  being  in  the  mission 
that  the  utilized  spirit  is  entrusted  to  perform. 

Similarity  in  witchcraft  practices  is  one  of  the  several 
grounds  held  by  ethnologists,  as  proving  identity  in  origin  of 
the  African  Negro  and  the  Australian  black.  To  quote  from 
Dr.  Carl  Lumholtz's  book,  "  Among  Cannibals "  :  "In  the 
various  [Australian]  tribes  are  so-called  wizards,  who  pretend 
to  communicate  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead  and  get  information 
from  them.  They  are  able  to  produce  sickness  or  death  when- 
ever they  please,  and  they  can  produce  or  stop  rain  and  many 
other  things.  Hence  these  wizards  are  greatly  feared.  Atten- 
tion is  called  to  the  influence  of  this  fear  of  witchcraft  upon 
1  Decle,  Three  Years  iu  Savage  Africa,  pp.  152,  154,  294. 


120  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

the  character  and  customs  of  the  natives.  It  makes  them 
bloodthirsty,  and  at  the  same  time  darkens  and  embitters 
their  existence.  An  AustraHan  native  is  unable  to  conceive 
death  as  natural  except  as  the  result  of  an  accident  or  of  old 
age ;  while  diseases  and  plagues  are  always  ascribed  to  witch- 
craft and  to  hostile  blacks.  In  order  topj-actise  his  artsL 
against  any  black  man,  the  wizard  must  be  in  possession  of 
^;§ome  article  that  has  belonged  to  him.  On  Herbert  River  the 
natives  heed  only  to  know  the  name  of  the  person  in  question, 
and  for  this  reason  they  rarely  use  their  proper  names  in 
addressing  or  speaking  of  each  other,  but  simply  their  class 
names.  I  once  met  a  black  man  who  told  me  that  he  per- 
sonally had  been  the  victim  of  strange  wizards,  and  that  ever 
since  that  time  he  had  been  a  sufferer  from  headache.  One 
afternoon  many  years  ago,  two  wizards  had  captured  and 
bound  him ;  they  had  taken  out  his  entrails  and  put  in  grass 
instead,  and  had  let  him  lie  in  this  condition  till  sunrise. 
Then  he  suddenly  recovered  his  senses  and  became  tolerably 
well ;  a  result  for  which  he  was  indebted  to  a  wizard  of  his 
own  tribe,  who  thus  proved  himself  more  powerful  than  the 
two  strangers.  The  blacks  call  an  operation  of  this  kind  kobi, 
and  a  man  who  is  able  to  perform  it,  as  a  matter  of  course,  is 
very  much  respected  and  feared." 

"  The  Ovimbundu  race,"  says  Arnot,  "  of  Bihe  and  the  coun- 
try to  the  west  are  most  enterprising  traders  and  imitators  of 
the  Portuguese.  They  seem,  however,  to  retain  tenaciously 
their  superstitions  and  fetich  worship. 

"  In  Chikula's  yard  there  is  a  small  roughly  cut  image, 
which  I  believe  represents  the  spirit  of  a  forefather  of  his. 
One  day  a  man  and  woman  came  in  and  rushed  up  to  this 
image,  dancing,  howling,  and  foaming  at  the  mouth,  apparently 
mad.  A  group  gathered  round,  and  declared  that  the  spirit  of 
Chikula's  forefather  had  taken  possession  of  this  man  and 
woman,  and  was  about  to  speak  through  them.  At  last  the 
'  demon '  began  to  grunt  and  groan  out  to  poor  Chikula,  who 
was  down  on  his  knees,  that  he  must  hold  a  hunt,  the  proceeds 
of  which  must  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  town  ;  must  kill 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOGY  121 

ail  ox,  provide  so  many  pots  of  beer,  and  proclaim  a  great 
feast  and  dance.  Furthermore,  all  this  was  to  be  done 
quickly.  The  poor  old  man  was  thoroughly  taken  in,  and  in 
two  days'  time  the  hunt  was  organized. 

"  Thus  I  find,  as  among  the  Barotse,  that  divining  and 
prophesying,  with  other  religious  and  superstitious  means,  are 
resorted  to  in  order  to  secure  private  ends  and  to  offer  sacri- 
liee  to  the  one  common  god,  the  belly. 

"  At  another  time  a  man  came  to  Senhor  Porto's  to  buy  an 
ox.  He  said  that  some  time  ago  he  had  killed  a  relation  by 
witchcraft  to  possess  himself  of  some  of  his  riches,  and  that 
now  he  must  sacrifice  an  ox  to  the  dead  man's  spirit,  which 
was  troubling  him.  This  killing  by  witchcraft  is  a  thing 
most  sincerely  believed  in ;  and  on  hearing  this  man's  cold- 
blooded confession  of  what  was  at  least  the  intent  of  his 
heart,  it  made  me  understand  why  the  Barotse  ]3ut  such 
demons  into  the  fire. 

"  Among  the  Ovimbundu,  old  and  renowned  witches  (wiz- 
ards?) are  thrown  into  some  river,  though  almost  every  man 
will  confess  that  he  practises  witchcraft  to  avenge  himself  of 
wrong  done  and  to  punish  his  enemies.  One  common  process 
is  to  boil  together  certain  fruits  and  roots,  with  which  the 
wizard  daubs  his  body,  in  order  to  enlist  the  aid  of  the  de- 
mons ;  and  the  decoction  is  then  thrown  in  the  direction  of 
the  victim,  or  laid  in  his  path,  that  he  may  be  brought  under 
the  bewitching  spell.  "^ 

We  quote  again  from  Dr.  J.  L.  Wilson,  "  Western  Africa  "  : 
"  Witchcraft,  and  the  use  of  fetiches  as  a  means  of  protec- 
tion against  it,  is  carried  to  a  greater  extent  here  [Southern 
(luinea]  than  in  Northern  Guinea,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the 
greater  imaginativeness  of  the  people.  The  marvels  performed 
by  those  who  are  supposed  to  possess  this  mysterious  art  tran- 
scend all  the  bounds  of  credulity.  A  man  can  turn  himself 
into  a  leopard,  and  destroy  the  property  and  lives  of  his 
fellow-men.  He  can  cause  the  clouds  to  pour  out  torrents 
of  rain,  or  hold  back  at  his  pleasure. 

1  Arnot,  Garenganze,  p.  115. 


122  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

"  A  different  article  is  used  liere  for  the  detection  of  witch- 
craft from  that  used  in  Northern  Guinea.  The  root  of  a 
small  shrub,  called  akazya,  is  employed,  and  is  more  powerful 
than  that  used  in  the  other  section  of  the  country.  A  person 
is  seldom  required  to  drink  more  than  half  a  pint  of  the  decoc- 
tion. If  it  acts  freely  as  a  diuretic,  it  is  a  mark  of  innocence ; 
but  if  as  a  narcotic,  and  produces  dizziness  and  vertigo,  it  is 
a  sure  sign  of  guilt.  Small  sticks  are  laid  down  at  the  dis- 
tance of  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  apart,  and  the  suspected 
po-son,  after  he  has  swallowed  the  draught,  is  required  to 
walk  over  them.  If  he  has  no  vertigo,  he  steps  over  them 
easily  and  naturally ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  his  brain  is 
affected,  he  imagines  they  rise  up  before  him  like  great  logs, 
and  in  his  awkward  effort  to  step  over  them,  is  apt  to  reel  and 
fall  to  the  ground.  In  some  cases  this  draught  is  taken  by 
proxy ;  and  if  a  man  is  found  guilty,  he  is  either  put  to  death 
or  heavily  fined,  and  banished  from  the  country.  In  many 
cases  post-mortem  examinations  are  made  with  the  view  of 
finding  the  actual  witch;  I  have  known  the  mouth  of  the 
aorta  to  be  cut  out  of  a  corpse,  and  shown  as  unanswerable 
proof  that  the  man  had  the  actual  power  of  witchcraft.^  No 
one  expects  to  resent  the  death  of  a  relative  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. He  is  supposed  to  have  been  killed  by  his  awk- 
ward management  of  an  instrument  that  was  intended  for  the 
destruction  of  others ;  and  it  is  rather  a  cause  of  congratula- 
tion to  the  living  that  he  is  caught  in  a  snare  of  his  own," 
and  that  his  own  "witch"  has  killed  him.^ 

Not  every  one  who  uses  white  art  is  able  also  to  use  the 
black.  Any  one  believing  in  fetich  can  use  white  arts,  and 
not  subject  himself  to  the  charge  of  being  a  wizard.  Those 
who  desire  to  go  beyond  the  arts  of  defence,  and  gratify  their 
revenge  or  any  other  passion  by  killing  or  injuring  some  one 

1  And,  similarly,  I  have  known  the  fimbriated  extremities  of  the  fallopian 
tubes  in  a  woman  held  up  as  a  proof  of  her  liaving  been  a  witch.  The  ciliary 
movements  of  these  fimbriae  were  regarded  as  the  efforts  of  her  "familiar  "  at  a 
process  of  eating.  The  decision  was  that  she  had  been  "  eaten  "  to  death  by  her 
own  offended  familiar.  —  R.  H.  N. 

2  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  p.  398. 


WITCHCRAFT  — DEMONOLOGY      123 

else,  have  gen(3r;illy  to  pnrcluise  the  agency  of  a  doctor  or 
some  one  skilled  in  the  black  art.  Should  the  means  thus 
employed  be  efficient  in  causing  a  death  (or  seemingly  so,  by 
the  coincidence  of  their  use  and  the  death  itself)  and  the  facts 
become  known,  both  the  doctor  and  the  man  who  employed 
him  would  probably  be  put  to  death.  Yet,  inconsistently, 
the  very  men  who  would  execute  them  have  themselves  used, 
or  will  some  day  use,  these  same  black  arts  for  the  same 
murderous  purpose,  and  the  native  doctors  will  continue 
in  their  risky  business. 

And  yet,  again,  inconsistently,  every  man  and  woman  in 
the  community  dreads  such  a  charge,  and  looks  askance  on 
tliose  who  are  suspected  of  belonging  to  the  Witchcraft  Com- 
pany. For  there  is  such  a  society,  not  distinctly  organized. 
It  has  meetings  at  which  they  plot  for  the  causing  of  sickness 
or  even  the  taking  of  life.  These  meetings  are  secret ;  pref- 
erably in  a  forest,  or  at  least  distant  from  a  village.  The 
hour  is  near  midnight.  An  imitation  of  the  hoot  of  an  owl, 
which  is  their  sacred  bird,  is  their  signal  call.  They  profess 
to  leave  their  corporeal  body  lying  asleep  in  their  huts,  and 
claim  that  the  part  which  joins  in  the  meeting  is  their  spirit- 
body,  whose  movements  are  not  hindered  by  walls  or  other 
physical  objects.  They  can  pass  with  instant  rapidity  through 
the  air,  over  the  tree-tops.  At  their  meetings  they  have 
visible,  audible,  and  tangible  communication  with  evil  spirits. 
They  partake  of  feasts ;  the  article  eaten  being  the  "  heart- 
life  "  of  some  human  being,  who,  in  consequence  of  this  loss 
of  his  "heart,"  becomes  sick,  and  will  die,  unless  it  be  re- 
stored. The  early  cock-crowing  is  a  warning  for  them  to  dis- 
perse ;  the  advent  of  the  morning  star  they  fear,  as  it  compels 
them  to  hasten  back  to  their  bodies.  Should  the  sun  rise  upon 
them  before  they  reach  their  corporeal  "home,"  their  plans 
would  fail,  and  themselves  would  sicken.  They  dread  cayenne 
pepper.  Should  its  bruised  leaves  or  pods  have  been  rubbed 
over  their  body-home  by  any  one  during  their  absence,  they 
would  be  unable  to  re-enter  it,  and  would  die  or  miserably 
waste  away. 


124  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

The   attitude  of   all  missionaries   toward  executions  on  a 
eliarge  of    being  a   witch    or    a   wizard    has    uniformly  been 
distinctly  in  opposition  to  them.     We  characterize  tliem  as 
murder.     The  European  governments  which  have  taken  pos- 
session of  Africa  also  put  down  witchcraft,  medicine-making, 
and  execution  of  supposed  witchcraft  mui-derers  with  a  strong 
hand.     The  natives  submit  under  pressure  of  force,  but  un- 
willingly.    Each  man  or  woman  is  glad  of  the  strong  foreign 
power  that  protects  himself  or  herself  from  being  put  to  death 
on  a  witchcraft   charge ;   but   they  each   complain   that  the 
government  does  not  execute,  nor  will  allow  them  to  execute, 
others  against  whom  they  make  tlie  same  charge.     It  is  un- 
/deniably  true  that  were  the  European  governments  that  have 
'  partitioned    Africa   to    withdraw    to-day,    the    witch-doctors, 
with  poison  ordeal  and  fetich  killing  and  witchcraft  execu- 
tion, would  promptly  re-establish  themselves  and  soon  would 
become  rampant  again.      The  Christian  churches  and  com- 
munities already  established    would  barely  hold   their   own, 
I  and  would  not  have  an  influence  extensive  enough  to  restrain 
'  the  forces  of  evil. 

I  quote  from  a  recent  issue  of  a  Freetown,  Sierra  Leone, 
newspaper,  edited  by  a  Negro,  an  article  written  by  a  Negro  on 
this  subject :  "  The  subject  of  '  witchcraft '  has  been  agitat- 
ing of  late  the  minds  of  this  community,  and  much  sense  and 
more  nonsense  has  been  heard  from  those  who  take  upc^n 
themselves  to  elucidate  the  matter.  It  is  a  very  difficult  and 
delicate  question  to  tackle  at  all  times,  especially  when  knowl- 
edge, which  is  always  the  foundation  of  eloquence,  is  absent. 
From  the  statement  of  Holy  Scriptures  we  know  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  witchcraft,  and  the  theory  is  confirmed  by  the 
records  of  English  history.  It  will  be  a  most  desirable  thing 
if  any  person  guilty  of  witchcraft  could  be  convicted  by  means 
that  would  be  convincing  in  the  legal  investigation  of  other 
crimes ;  it  will  save  the  community  from  many  heart-burnings 
and  mistakes. 

"  A  writer  in  a  local  journal  recently  made  tlie  assertion  that 
in  any  case  of  poisoning  in  the  cities  of  Europe,  stei)S  are 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOG  Y  125 

taken  to  trace  the  poison  by  eminent  pliysicians  and  detec- 
tives employed  to  hunt  up  the  accused,  but  in  our  opinion 
the  cases  are  not  analogous.  In  the  case  of  suspected  poison- 
ing post-mortem  examinations  by  competent  authorities  will 
disclose  the  fact  whether  the  deceased  died  of  poisoning ;  un- 
founded, and  in  some  instances  gratuitous,  assertions  are  not 
without  proofs  allowed  to  cloud  the  life  of  individuals.  A 
prima  facie  case  once  established,  the  suspect  is  pursued  with 
the  utmost  vigor  of  the  law. 

"  In  this  colony  [Sierra  Leone]  most  deaths  are  attributed 
to  the  influence  of  witches,  and  accusation  of  witchcraft  is  at 
once  made  against  individuals  without  attempt  at  obtaining 
evidence. 

"  How  can  it  be  proved  that  there  is  a  band  of  these  wicked 
ones,  so  as  to  attach  credence  to  the  confession  of  a  conscience- 
stricken  member  who  implicates  also  a  number  of  coadjutors  ? 
The  problem  is  an  intricate  one,  and  requires  thoughtful 
investigation." 

The  slaves  exported  from  Africa  to  the  British  possessions 
in  the  West  Indies  brought  with  them  some  of  the  seeds  of 
African  plants,  especially  those  they  regarded  as  "  medicinal," 
or  they  found  among  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  tropical  West 
Indies  some  of  the  same  plants  and  animals  held  by  them  as 
sacred  to  fetich  in  their  tropical  Africa.  The  ceiba,  or  silk- 
cotton  tree,  at  whose  base  I  find  in  Africa  so  many  votive 
offerings  of  fetich  worship,  they  found  flourishing  on  Jamaica. 
They  had  established  on  their  plantations  the  fetich  doctor, 
their  dance,  their  charm,  their  lore,  before  they  had  learned 
English  at  all.  And  when  the  British  missionaries  came 
among  them  with  school  and  church,  while  many  of  the  con- 
verts were  sincere,  there  were  those  of  the  doctor  class  who, 
like  Simon  Magus,  entered  into  the  church-fold  for  sake  of 
whatever  gain  they  could  make  by  the  white  man's  new  in- 
fluence, the  white  man's  Holy  Spirit !  Outwardly  everj^thing 
was  serene  and  Christian.  Within  was  working  an  element 
of  diabolism,  fetichism,  there  known  by  the  name  of  Obeah, 
under  whose  leaven  some  of  the  churches  were  wrecked.    And 


126  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

the  same  diabolism,  known  as  voodoo  worship,  in  the  Negro 
communities  of  the  Southern  United  States  lias  emasculated 
the  spiritual  life  of  many  professed  Christians. 

It  must  be  admitted,  as  to  this  whole  matter  of  witchcraft 
belief  and  witchcraft  murder  and  witchcraft  execution,  how- 
ever wrong  the  Negro  belief,  his  sense  of  justice  is  aggrieved 
by  the  attitude  of  the  foreign  missionary  and  the  foreign 
government.  Something  should  be  allowed  to  that  sense  of 
justice.  Both  missionary  and  government  err  sometimes,  in 
their  judgment  of  individual  or  tribal  crime  and  in  their 
punishment  of  it,  by  arbitrarily  following  only  civihzed  law 
and  the  civihzed  point  of  view  ;  ignoring  or  not  giving  proper 
weight,  in  the  make  up  of  their  judgment,  to  the  degree  to 
which  the  fetich  enters  as  a  factor  in  native  motives  and  acts, 
and  the  power  with  which  it  influences  native  thought. 

In  Matabele-land,  South  Africa,  after  the  defeat  and  death 
of  the  king  Lo-Bengula,  and  the  occupation  of  his  country 
by  Great  Britain,  there  was  an  outbreak,  the  cause  of  which 
was  not  fully  appreciated  until  it  was  traced  to  the  witch- 
doctors, who  seized  the  occasion  of  the  ravages  of  the  rinder- 
pest, which  was  at  that  time  devastating  the  cattle  of  South 
Africa,  to  make  use  of  their  power.  "  Naturally  they  must 
have  felt,  more  than  anybody  else,  the  occupation  of  Matabele- 
land  by  the  whites,  as  it  meant  the  disappearance  of  their 
former  power.  When  the  rinderpest  broke  out,  they  probably 
persuaded  the  natives,  who  understood  nothing  about  an  epi- 
demic and  attributed  whatever  ill  befalls  them  to  witchcraft, 
that  it  was  the  spirit  of  Lo-Bengula,  which  was  dissatisfied  with 
them  and  which  caused  their  cattle  to  die.  To  appease  Lo- 
Bengula's  spirit,  it  Avas  necessary  to  fight  the  whites.  They, 
the  witch-doctors,  would  make  medicine  to  turn  the  bullets 
of  the  white  men  into  water,  so  that  the  Matabele  could  not 
be  hurt  by  them." 

Similarly  Great  Britain  with  difficulty  has  suppressed 
several  risings  of  the  Ashantees,  and  the  late  so-called  "  Hut- 
Tax  "  rebellion  in  Sierra  Leone.  The  actual  force  of  the 
1  Brown,  Oq  the  South  African  Frontier. 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOG  Y  127 

natives,  in  organization,  arms,  and  skill,  was  almost  ridiculous 
in  its  inferiority  as  compared  with  the  thoroughly  armed  and 
disciplined  troops  of  the  British  Empire ;  hut  the  final 
result,  though  never  doubtful,  was  attained  with  much  loss  of 
men  and  funds.  The  fetich  doctor  and  fetich  belief  were  a 
vis  a  tergo  with  the  native  liorde.  Its  value  as  a  factor  in  the 
contest  had  not  been  reckoned  on  by  the  foreigner.  What- 
ever motives  influenced  the  native  in  the  contest,  in  patriotism, 
cupidity,  revenge,  bravery,  they  were  minor.  The  grand 
influence  that  nerved  his  arm  and  made  him  perfectly  fearless 
in  his  assaults  against  weapons  of  precision,  was  his  deep 
conviction,  more  complete  than  Christian  faith,  that  he  would 
win.  Had  not  the  fetich  doctor  told  him  so  ?  Though  there 
had  been  some  apparent  failures,  m  his  belief  they  were  only 
apparent.  The  real  failure  was  in  his  own  self,  his  not  having 
followed  minutely  all  the  fetich  directions.  Those  directions 
followed  rightly  in  the  next  battle,  he  could  7iot  fail. 

The  faith  of  a  Christian  does  not  assure  him,  in  any  emer- 
gency of  life,  that  he  will  be  successful  in  his  plan ;  it  only 
certifies  him  that,  whatever  be  the  result,  success  or  failure, 
of  any  single  act  or  series  of  acts  in  life's  drama,  his  own  will 
must  be  subordinated  to  God's,  who,  if  not  granting  his 
specific  wish  to-day,  will  overrule  everything  in  the  final 
denouement  for  his  best  spiritual  good. 

Similarly  the  heathen  fetich,  mixed  with  the  fatalism  of 
Islam,  is  an  explanation  of  the  splendid  recklessness  with 
which  the  followers  of  the  Mahdi  flung  themselves  against  the 
sabres  and  maxims  of  General  Kitchener's  army  at  Omdurman, 

Faith  in  fetich  is  a  power  as  long  as  its  devotee  believes  in 
its  infallibility.  When  that  is  gone,  his  flight  or  conquest 
is  instant.  Fetich  power  therefore  cannot  be  invariably  relied 
upon  as  a  motive  to  action.  It  may  sometimes  be  magnificent. 
Only  Christian  faith  or  civilized  discipline  can  be  sublime,  as 
compared  with  it. 

But  a  fetich  devotee  who  has  lost  his  faith  in  his  fetich 
could  never  have  stood  with  Christian  martyrs  who  knew 
perfectly  well  that  within  an  hour  they  would  be  torn  to 


128  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

pieces  in  the^  arena.  Their  sublime  faith  looked  beyond  that 
arena  to  the  eternal  promise.  A  fetich  soldier  who  has  lost 
his  faith  in  his  fetich  could  never  have  gone  with  those  who 
stood  head  erect  before  certain  death  in  the  Alamo  fort  or 
who  rode  in  the  charge  at  Balaklava.  Their  elevated  motives 
of  patriotism,  implicit  soldierly  obedience  to  order,  and  the 
sweet  scent  of  human  glory  made  them  discount  the  value  of 
their  own  blood.  These  were  motives  not  only  powerful  in 
force,  but  great  in  character.  The  Negro's  fetich  faith  is 
powerful,  but  never  great. 

Something  cognate  to  tliis  in  the  comparison  of  the  power 
and  the  greatness  of  a  motive  will  explain  the  persistent  fatu- 
ity of  the  Boer  in  protracting  his  contest  with  Great  Britain. 
From  the  very  first,  whatever  the  world  may  have  thought  of 
essential  right  or  justice  in  the  case,  the  world  knew  that 
England  would  win.  The  Boer  would  have  been  wise  to  have 
accepted  defeat  earlier  and  made  terms  with  a  conqueror  who 
generally  has  been  magnanimous  and  rarely  cruel,  rather  than 
invite,  by  guerilla  warfare,  measures  severer,  harsher,  and 
possibly  exterminative.  The  Boer  is  a  Christian,  but  his 
faith  was  of  the  Mosaic  kind  that  expected  the  God  of  battles 
to  interfere  visibly  in  his  behalf.  The  president  of  the  republic 
had  preached  that  he  would  do  so.  The  Boer  looked  on  the 
president  as  a  prophet,  and  believed  him.  But  his  faith  was 
an  unreasonable  one ;  it  was  fatuous.  His  bravery,  patriot- 
ism, marksmanship,  and  endurance  could  not  avail.  These  all 
tell  well  for  a  martyrdom,  if  martyrdom  were  desirable  or 
necessar}',  but  they  did  not  tell  well  for  assertion  of  success. 

France,  overcome  by  Germany,  still  was  brave  and  patriotic ; 

but  she  was  wise  in  accepting  the  inevitable,  —  wiser  than  the 

Negro  or  the  Boer.    France  believed  in  God ;  so  did  Germany. 

VBut  the  faith  of  neither  was  of  the  fetich  kind.     Nevertheless, 

the  fetich  faith  is  magnificent,  even  if  it  be  fatuous. 

For  the  apparently  cruel  side  of  the  black  art,  viz.^  the 
killing  of  those  guilty  of  witchcraft,  there  is  some  allow- 
ance to  be  made. 

To  the  believer  in  fetich  the  killing  is  a  judicial  act.      He 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOGY      129 

does  not  call  it  a  murder,  but  an  execution;  and  he  tries 
to  justify  it  by  an  argument  which  even  the  missionary  has 
to  admit  is  correct  if  the  Negro's  premises  in  the  argument 
are  admitted.  As  Ave  do  not  admit  both  of  them,  his  argu- 
ment falls.  But  it  is  difficult  to  show  him  that  his  second 
premise  is  wrong,   and  he  is  unconvinced. 

I  have  several  times  been  thoroughly  worsted  in  my  dis- 
cussion with  native  chiefs  on  this  matter  of  witchcraft  ex- 
ecutions. In  the  early  years  of  my  missionary  life,  while 
resident  on  Corisco  Island,  I  followed  the  practice  of  my 
predecessor,  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Mackey,  in  the  effort  to  prevent 
such  executions,  which  were  then  (about  1863)  common. 
We  directed  the  native  Christians  to  notify  us  of  any  death, 
and  we  would  at  once  go  to  the  village  and  endeavor  to  fore- 
stall the  almost  invariable  witchcraft  investigation.  The  head- 
man, Kombenyamango,  of  an  adjacent  village,  was  a  large, 
strong,  influential,  cruel  man.  There  was  so  little  about  him 
to  command  my  respect  that  I  had  shown  him  but  slight  def- 
erence. Having  thus  his  amour  proprc  wounded,  he  was 
unfortunately  not  on  very  good  terms  with  me.  His  aged 
mother  had  been  failing  in  health  for  a  long  time,  and  finally 
had  died.  Her  position,  as  mother  of  a  chief,  had  given  her 
much  respect  in  native  eyes.  The  concourse  of  mourners 
gathered  from  a  distance  was  large.  Feeling  for  her  death 
was  deep;  threats  of  vengeance  for  her  taking  off  were 
loud.  I  was  soon  informed  that  one  of  her  female  slaves 
had  been  seized  under  pure  suspicion  because  of  her  proxim- 
ity as  the  dead  woman's  servant.  In  her  case  as  a  means  of 
finding  whether  or  not  she  was  guilty,  there  had  been  no 
ordeal  test  of  drinking  the  mbundu  poison,  (On  the  Upper 
Guinea  Coast  it  is  sassa-wood;  at  Calabar,  the  Calabar  bean; 
at  the  equator,  the  akazya  leaf.)  Under  torture,  being 
beaten  and  lacerated  by  thorn  bushes,  she  had  confessed  her- 
self guilty,  was  in  chains,  and  was  soon  to  be  executed. 

On  such  occasions,  on  arriving  at  the  village,  there  was 
often  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  chief  to  deceive  tlie  mis- 
sionary.    The  chief  would  either  assert  that  he  had  had  no 


130  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

intention  of  making  a  witchcraft  investigation,  or  would  con- 
sent now,  in  deference  to  his  white  friend  the  missionar}',  to 
abandon  his  intention,  and  would  forbid  any  execution.  But 
it  would  be  revealed  to  us  afterwards  that  at  that  very  mo- 
ment a  victim  was  in  chains  in  that  very  village,  and  had 
subsequently  been  secretly  put  to  death. 

This  day  Kombenyamango,  though  receiving  me  with 
sufficient  respect,  was  nonchalant.  He  did  not  lie.  He 
promptly,  in  answer  to  my  question,  said,  "Yes,  I  have  a 
prisoner  here,  and  I  intend  to  put  her  to  death."  "Why?" 
"Because  she  has  killed  my  mother!  "  I  told  him  I  did  not 
believe  his  mother  had  died  by  unnatural  means,  and  I 
preached  to  him  the  usual  sermon  on  the  Sixth  Command- 
ment. I  was  at  that  time  young  in  my  knowledge  of  native 
thought  and  fetich  belief.  I  can  see  now  that  to  every  sen- 
tence of  my  address  he  could  have  said  Amen,  in  his  believ- 
ing, as  he  did,  that  his  mother  had  been  murdered,  and  that 
this  slave  woman  had  broken  the  Sixth  Commandment.  But, 
after  listening  awhile,  he  became  impatient,  and  said,  "  Look 
here!  in  your  country,  when  a  person  kills  your  mother,  don't 
you  tie  a  rope  about  his  neck  and  hang  him  up,  and  don't 
you  say  you  are  doing  right  in  so  doing?  "  "  Yes."  "Well, 
that 's  just  what  I  am  going  to  do  to  this  woman,  and  I  am 
right."  "Yes,  you  would  be  right  if  she  has  killed  your 
mother;  but  she  has  not.  The  bewitching  with  which  you 
charge  her  is  foolish."  (As  to  the  folly,  I  know  now  that 
that  was  a  matter  of  opinion  between  him  and  me;  and  he 
had  reason  for  his  opinion.)  He  replied,  "But  she  has  con- 
fessed that  she  is  guilty."  "Quite  possibly;  but  still  a  lie 
on  her  part,  for  she  would  say  anything  to  obtain  temporary 
relief  from  your  torture."  "But  ask  her  yourself."  "No 
use  to  do  so  in  your  presence ;  she  is  afraid  of  you,  and  she 
will  not  dare  to  speak  to  me  or  contradict  you."  "Well, 
then,  I  will  bring  her;  and  you  take  her  off  there  among  the 
plantains  by  yourself,  and  see  what  she  will  say."  This 
sounded  fair ;  but  even  so,  I  had  my  doubts,  for  she  did  not 
know  me.     Perhaps  they  would  lie  to  her,  and  tell  her  I  was 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOGY  131 

confederate  with  her  master,  and  would  order  her  not  to  alter 
her  confession.  And  she,  in  her  dazed  condition,  was  really 
not  responsible  for  anything  she  might  say.  She  was  brouglit 
from  a  hut.  She  was  in  chains,  and  yet  with  her  limbs  free 
to  walk.  There  was  no  possibility  of  her  escape ;  nor  of  ni}' 
being  able  to  abduct  her,  had  I  been  unwise  enough  to  at- 
tempt it.  I  led  her  out  of  Kombenyamango's  hearing,  but 
still  plainly  in  his  sight,  and  kindly  said  to  her,  "  Did  you 
do  this?  "  To  my  amazement,  she  said,  "Yes."  "But  what 
did  you  do?  If  you  say  you  killed  her,  how  did  you  do  it?  " 
She  described  minutely  how,  being  in  attendance  on  the  old 
woman,  she  was  often  vexed  at  her  petulance,  and  had  been 
beaten  by  her  for  small  neglects ;  how,  in  her  anger,  she  had 
desired  her  mistress's  death;  had  collected  crumbs  of  her 
food,  strands  of  her  hair,  and  shreds  of  her  clothing;  how 
she  had  mixed  these  with  other  substances,  and  had  sung 
enchantments  with  drum  and  dance,  aided  by  others ;  had  tied 
all  these  things  together  on  a  stick  which  she  had  secretly 
buried  at  the  threshold  of  the  old  woman's  door,  desiring  and 
expecting  that  she  should  thereby  die.  By  an  unfortunate 
coincidence  the  old  woman  had  died  a  month  or  two 
later;  and  the  slave  believed  that  what  she  had  done  had 
been  efficient  to  accomplish  the  taking  of  life. 

Baffled,  I  returned  to  Kombenyamango,  and  admitted  her 
confession.  But  I  told  him  that,  even  so,  both  he  and  she 
were  under  a  delusion ;  that  what  she  had  done  had  no  efKi- 
ciency  for  accomplishing  a  murder;  that  it  was  impossible. 
(Here  again  was  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  possibility ;  he 
believed  his  senses.  In  his  life  he  had  seen  witchcraft  mys- 
teries; I  had  not.) 

It  was  useless,  even  inconsistent,  to  plead  for  mercy;  I 
retired  heartsick.  I  was  morally  certain  the  old  woman  had 
died  a  natural  death.  Yet  this  poor  slave  woman  had  had 
murder  in  her  heart,  and  had  tried  to  make  her  murderous 
thought  effective.  She  was,  before  God,  guilty.  She  had 
confessed  herself,  before  man's  bar,  guilty.  (Well  for  the 
thousands  of  us  who  know  ourselves  guilty  in  thought,  that 


132  FETICHISAI   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

we  are  not  to  be  held  by  our  fellow-sinners  as  guilty  in  act !) 
I  knew  that  she  was  really  innocent,  but  I  could  not  prove 
it.  She  was  taken  to  sea  in  a  boat,  and  decapitated;  her 
remains  were  thrown  into  the  sea. 

On  another  occasion,  a  year  later,  also  on  Corisco  Island, 
a  certain  heathen  headman  of  a  village,  Osongo,  had  died. 
A  female  slave  who  was  suspected  had  fled.  Her  flight 
was  regarded  as  proof  positive  of  her  guilt.  Our  mission 
premises  had  always  been  accorded  by  the  native  chiefs 
the  right  of  sanctuary.  A  refugee  for  any  offence  could 
not  be  seized  on  our  premises  till  we  saw  just  reason  for 
"  extraditing  "  him.  This  slave  woman  had  hidden  herself 
in  our  jungle-thicket  adjoining  a  forest;  just  where  I  did 
not  know.  Two  freemen  —  my  personal  employees,  good 
Christians  —  knew,  and  secretly  at  night  with  my  connivance 
fed  her.  My  school-girls  also  learned  of  it.  Such  a  secret  is 
diflicult  to  hide.  One  of  the  girls,  a  niece  of  Osongo,  re- 
vealed it  to  another  of  my  workmen,  Matoku,  a  slave  also 
of  Osongo,  and  a  professed  Christian.  He,  with  the  traitor- 
ous cowardice  that  makes  many  slaves  informers  on  each  other 
as  a  means  of  enhancing  their  own  safety  with  their  masters, 
revealed  it  to  Ajai,  Osongo's  brother.  Ajai,  with  a  retinue 
of  servants,  came  to  visit  me  in  ray  study.  He,  with  a 
wily  talk  about  the  sadness  of  his  brother's  death,  detained 
me,  while  the  servants  broke  into  the  mission  premises, 
and,  led  by  Matoku,  captured  the  woman,  faint  with  her 
days  and  nights  of  exposure.  I  discharged  Matoku  from 
my  employ,  and  dismissed  the  niece  from  school.  But  the 
heathen  regarded  these  punishments  as  slight;  they  had 
obtained  their  object.  My  attempts  to  plead  with  Ajai  for 
the  woman's  life  were  met  with  undisguised  admission  of 
his  fixed  purpose  to  kill  her.  With  a  family  as  prominent 
on  the  island  and  as  wedded  to  heathenism  as  was  Osongo's, 
and  in  face  of  the  current  that  set  against  the  woman,  the 
influences  I  was  able  to  employ,  and  which  had  at  other 
times  resulted  in  saving  some  lives  accused  of  witchcraft, 
proved  ineffectual.     I  was  privately  told  that  she  was  to  be 


WITCHCRAFT  — DEMONOLOGY  133 

put  into  a  boat  and  carried  out  to  sea  so  as  to  prevent  any 
interference  I  might  possibly  attempt.  With  a  spy-glass  I 
saw  a  native  boat  shoot  rapidly  out  from  beyond  a  point  of 
land  half  a  mile  distant.  The  rowers  rested  on  their  oars 
when  they  reached  deep  water.  She  was  seized;  her  head 
held  over  the  gunwale,  her  throat  cut,  and  her  lifeless  body 
cast  into  the  sea. 

She  had  a  son,  a  stout  lad.  Ajai,  fearing  that  he  might 
live  to  avenge  his  mother's  death,  had  ordered  him  also  to 
be  killed  as  an  accomplice  with  her  in  the  bewitching  of 
Osongo.  The  tragedy  that  was  being  enacted  on  the  beach 
behind  the  point  of  land  from  which  had  issued  the  boat  I 
did  not  see ;  but  I  was  told  that  the  lad  was  seized,  his  hands 
and  limbs  tied  to  a  stake,  where  he  was  slowly  burned  to 
death.  A  crowd  sat  on  the  beach  jeering  him,  and  amused 
themselves  by  tying  little  packets  of  gunpowder  to  different 
parts  of  his  body,  enjoying  the  sight  of  his  struggles  as  the 
packets  exploded  in  succession. 

Undeniably  there  is  much  jugglery  and  conscious  decep- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  magic  doctors.  How  much  they  really 
believe  in  what  they  say  or  do  no  one  has  been  able  to  dis- 
cover; they  assert  that  they  are  under  supernatural  influ- 
ences, and  have  power  given  from  supernatural  sources. 
Rarely  are  any  of  this  priest  class  converted  to  Christianity. 
A  few  have  professed  conversion,  and  have  made  a  general 
acknowledgment  of  sinfulness;  but  they  did  not  like  to  talk 
about  their  divinations;  they  called  them  "foolishness." 
But  evidently  there  was  something  about  those  divinations 
of  which  they  seemed  ashamed  and  which  they  wished  to 
forget.  Only  one  have  I  met  who  would  talk  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  she  believed  she  had  been  under  satanic  influence,  — 
not  simply  as  all  wicked  thoughts  are  satanic  in  their  char- 
acter and  inspiration,  but  that  she  had  actually  been  under 
satanic  possession,  and  was  given  by  the  devil  more  than 
mere  human  power.  Certainly,  if  there  is  in  civilized  jug- 
glery, fortune -telling,  clairvoyance,  divining,  spirit-rappings, 
theosophy,  et  id  omne  genus,  nothing  more   than  sleight   of 


134  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

hand,  alert  observation  of  facial  expression,  and  mind-read- 
ing, the  African  conjurer  almost  equals  the  civilized  profes- 
sional. The  native  magician  does  and  tells  some  wonderful 
things.  In  one  of  my  congregations  an  educated  woman,  a 
widow,  who  had  only  one  child,  a  son  grown  to  young 
manhood,  had  subsequently  lived  in  succession  with  four 
other  men,  three  of  whom  were  white,  who  had  either  died 
or  deserted  her;  and  she  supposed  herself  past  child-bearing. 
She  contracted  a  secret  marriage  with  a  white  gentleman,  but 
of  it  positively  nothing  was  known  or  even  suspected  by  any 
one.  She  confessed  to  me  that  one  day,  being  a  visitor  in  a 
distant  place  where  she  was  not  known,  she,  out  of  mere 
curiosity,  hired  a  magician  to  divine  her  future.  He  looked 
into  his  magic  mirror,  and,  among  many  other  things  which 
he  could  shrewdly  have  guessed  in  a  quick  study  of  her 
character  as  revealed  in  her  looks,  manner,  and  language, 
surprised  her  by  describing  a  white  man  (whom  he  had 
never  seen)  who,  he  asserted,  was  deeply  attached  to  her, 
and  by  whom  she  would  become  the  mother  of  two  children. 
She  suppressed  her  surprise,  and  told  him  that  though  mar- 
ried four  times,  she  had  borne  no  child  in  eighteen  years.  He 
nevertheless  asserted,  "  I  see  them  in  your  womb." 

Within  five  years  from  that  time  she  did  have  two  un- 
timely births  by  her  white  husband.  She  told  me  in  her 
confession  that  he  knew  nothing  of  them,  they  being  mis- 
carriages. She  had  suppressed  from  him  the  fact  of  her 
pregnancy.  When  subsequently  she  united  with  the  church, 
she  made  these  revelations  only  to  me  as  her  pastor,  to  save 
herself  from  public  rebuke. 

At  another  time  a  woman  in  Gabun  became  very  anxious 
about  a  brother  of  hers  who  was  trading  on  the  Ogowe  River, 
at  a  place  at  least  three  hundred  miles  distant;  no  news  had 
come  of  him.  Evil  news  always  flies  fast  and  is  always 
spread  publicly.  She  went  to  a  magician.  Divining,  he 
said,  "Your  brother  is  dead."  -'But  where?  What?  When 
did  he  die  ?  "  "  Only  recently.  I  see  his  body  lying  bleed- 
ing."    And  he  described   the  wounds,  the  locality  on  the 


WITCHCRAFT  — DEMONOLOGY      135 

river,  tlie  time,  and  otlicr  details  of  a  country  where  he 
liad  never  been.  Two  months  hiter  news  did  come,  and  it 
agreed  in  time,  place,  and  circumstances  with  tlie  divination. 

Such  things  occur  in  civilized  lands.  They  are  accounted 
for  without  any  reference  to,  or  belief  in,  demoniac  or  even 
supernatural  causes  or  influences.  We  call  such  recondite 
knowledge  telepathy,  and  leave  it  for  psychologists  to  study 
its  character  and  application.  It  has  no  religious  signifi- 
cance or  use.  The  most  devout  Christian  may  believe  in 
it  or  be  subject  to  its  operation.  Other  cases  of  telepathy 
in  Africa  I  have  been  told  of,  that  had  no  fetich  nor  any  divi- 
nation of  magic  doctor  connected  with  them ;  but  the  natives 
attributed  them  to  some  unknown  spirit-influence. 

An  outcome  of  the  witchcraft  of  fetichism,  demonolatry, 
though  not  necessarily  identical  with  demoniacal  possession, 
intimately  associates  itself  with  it  as  a  part  of  its  develop- 
ment. For  the  Negro  belief  in  such  possession  there  is  good 
basis.  The  Bible  recognizes  the  possibility  of  human  beings 
in  their  free  agency  making  pacts  with  the  devil,  in  virtue 
of  which  he  was  allowed,  under  divine  administration,  to 
share  with  them  some  of  his  supernatural  power  as  prince 
of  the  power  of  darkness,  and  god  of  this  world.  Such  pacts 
were  condemned  by  Jehovah  as  unholy.  Those  who  made 
them  were  called  witches  and  wizards;  such  transgressors 
were  directed  to  be  destroyed.  "Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a 
witch  to  live "  ^  (a  command  that  does  not  necessarily 
prove  that  the  professed  diabolical  compact  was  always  a 
real  one.  The  mere  professing  to  have  satanic  companion- 
ship and  aid  was  an  offence  heinous  to  Jehovah's  theocratic 
government  of  his  people.) 

But  the  witch  of  Endor  ^  certainly  was  a  reality ;  she  did  ; 
" bring  up  "  real  departed  spirits;  perhaps  only  on  that  one 
occasion,  and  then  only  by  direct  divine  and  not  satanic 
power  and  will,  and  for  a  divine  object.  She  herself  seems  to 
have  been  surprised  ^  at  the  real  success  of  divinations  which 
formerly  may  have  been,  in  her  hands,  only  deceptions. 

1  Ex.  xxii.  18.  2  1  Sam.  xxvii.  11-15.  3  Verse  12. 


136  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

My  native  heathen  chiefs  have  good  precedent  for  their 
witchcraft  executions.  New  Enghmd  history  cannot  wipe 
out  the  fact  of  the  Salem  witchcraft  trials. 

Demoniac  possessions  in  supposed  lunatics  are  possible ; 
they  were  actual  and  numerous  in  Palestine  during  the  min- 
istry of  Christ.  Satan  was  "  loosed  "  with  unusual  power, 
that  the  Son  of  God  in  his  contest  with  him  could  give  to 
the  world  convincing  proof  of  his  divine  origin  and  authority, 
even  the  devils  being  subject  to  him.  If  demoniacal  pos- 
sessions are  possible  during  a  term  of  j-ears,  they  are  equally 
possible  for  a  few  hours;  they  never  were  nor  are  made  by 
Satan  for  a  good  purpose.  God,  in  the  days  of  Christ,  for 
the  special  purpose  of  the  time,  overruled  them  for  the  de- 
fence of  his  kingdom ;  since  then,  in  the  hearts  of  evil  men, 
their  advent  is  only  for  evil  and  by  evil. 

If  in  Christian  lands  the  enchantments  of  the  hoodoo  are 
only  jugglery  and  nothing  else,  it  may  be  that  Satan's  f)ower 
is  limited  under  the  broad  light  of  Christianity.  But  in 
heathen  lands,  where  for  ages  Satan's  power  has  not  only 
been  accepted  but  also  sought,  I  am  disposed  to  believe  that 
some  apparent  cases  of  lunacy  are  real  possessions  by  Satan, 
in  which  cases  both  the  physical  disease  and  its  associated 
mental  aberration  are  the  effect  of  the  possession.  In  lunacy 
pure  and  simple  the  mental  aberration  is  the  effect  of  disease 
alone,  —  some  mental  or  physical  injury. 

The  possibility  of  a  permanent  possession  by  Satan  being 
admitted,  it  is  easily  possible  that  the  fetich  doctors  or  priest- 
esses may  be  temporarily  entered  into  by  satanic  power,  and 
that  some  wonderful  things  they  do  and  say  while  endowed 
with  that  power  are  used  by  the  devil  to  blind  men's  minds 
against  the  truth. 

It  may  be,  therefore,  that  the  missionary  in  his  contest 
with  heathenism  has  literally  to  fight  with  the  devil,  with 
principalities  and  powers  in  high  places,  and  needs  weapons 
more  subtle  than  Martin  Luther's  inkstand.  If  so,  he 
puts  his  preaching  and  his  work  at  a  disadvantage  in  de- 
riding  the   witchcraft   side  of  fetichism,  revealed   in    black 


WITCHCRAFT  —  DEMONOLOGY      137 

art,  as  simply  "folly,"  and  reprehensible  only  as  a  supersti- | 
tion.     It   is    more    than  that ;    it  is  wickedness,  —  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places.     While  it  is  true  that  it  has  much  \ 
that  is  mere  jugglery  and  charlatanism,  it  is  quite  possible 
that  it  may  have  something  that  is  diabolically  real. 

But  all  this  does  not  fully  justify  my  Negro  chief  in  put- 
ting to  death  his  slave,  who  may  or  may  not  have  been  more 
than  self-deceived  and  deceiving,  who  may  or  may  not  have 
had  a  temporary  satanic  possession,  who  may  or  may  not 
have  been  guilty  of  murder  before  the  bar  of  God  or  man. 
That  chief  and  all  his  assistants  in  the  execution,  and  all 
other  users  of  the  black  art,  had,  in  the  beginning  of  their 
fetich  life,  been  users  of  only  the  defensive  white  art;  had 
inevitably  grown  into  the  use  of  the  offensive  black  art, 
and  in  all  probability  at  some  time  or  other  had  used  divi- 
nations, with  and  by  the  aid  of  witchcraft  doctors,  for  the 
destruction  of  others  in  a  similar  way  and  under  the  same 
motives  as  those  admitted  by  my  poor  slave  woman. 

My  chief's  argument  syllogized  would  be :  Whoever  kills 
should  be  killed;  this  woman  has  killed;  therefore  she 
should  be  killed.  His  first  premise  stands;  l)ut  neither  he 
nor  any  of  his  people  had  a  right  to  use  it;  consistently,  he 
and  all  his  should  themselves  have  been  at  the  same  bar  with 
the  woman;  they  either  had  done,  or  would  some  day  be 
doing,  just  what  they  were  charging  her  with  doing.  His 
second  premise  may  or  may  not  have  been  true;  certainly, 
the  only  one  who  could  know  whether  it  was  true  was 
the  accused  herself,  and  she  may  have  been  self-deceived ; 
and  her  confession  should  have  no  standing  in  court,  having 
been  forced  under  torture.  I  could  not  therefore  admit  his 
conclusion;  and  I  think  that,  had  the  INIaster  stood  visibly  on 
Corisco  Island  that  day,  He  would  have  said,  "  He  that  is 
without  sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her." 


CHAPTER  X 

FETICHISM  —  A   GOVERNMENT 

IN  civilization,  under  governments  other  than  autocratic, 
law  being  made  and  executed,  at  least  professedly,  with 
the  consent  of  the  governed,  all  enactments  find  not  only 
their  justification,  but  also  the  possibility  of  their  enforce- 
ment, in  their  support  by  public  opinion.  It  is  the  general 
consensus  as  to  the  need  of  an  enactment  regarding  certain 
conditions  affecting  the  lives  or  happiness  or  rights  of  the 
majority,  that  crystallizes  opinions  into  a  form  of  words,  and 
gives  authority  for  the  enforcement  of  the  decisions  expressed 
by  those  words. 

This  is  also  partly  true  even  under  governments  more  or 
less  despotic,  where  the  will  of  the  ruler,  not  of  the  ruled,  is 
made  the  basis  of  law.  Few  despots  are  so  utterly  tyranni- 
cal as  deliberately  to  arouse  opposition  on  the  part  of  their 
subjects.  Even  a  Nero,  who  would  refuse  a  petition  if  it 
happened  to  run  counter  to  his  whim  or  caprice  of  the  day, 
would  grant  that  same  petition  if  it  happened  to  coincide 
with  his  own  whim  of  another  day.  Even  he  thought  it 
desirable  to  pander  to  the  public  taste  for  the  butcheries  of 
the  amphitheatre,  not  simply  because  he  himself  enjoyed 
them.  Though  he  could  initiate  no  measure  for  the  real 
good  of  Rome,  he  recognized  the  necessity  of  responding  to 
the  cry,  "panem  et  circenses." 

In  all  governments  fear  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  grounds 
for  the  enforcement  of  law.  In  even  the  freest  nations  and 
under  the  highest  form  of  civilization  the  public  opinion  that 
administers  law  makes  its  demand  partly  in  the  interest  of 
essential  right,  partly  with  the  instinct  of  self-preservation 


FETICHISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  139 

against  the  forces  of  evil,  and  partly  for  the  punishment  of 
wrong.  Punishment  in  itself  is  not  reformatory;  it  is  retrib- 
utive; it  is  deterrent;  it  plays  upon  fear. 

In  the  native  African  tril)al  forms  of  government,  while  it 
would  not  be  true  to  sa}^  that  there  is  no  justice  in  the  cus- 
toms they  recognize,  it  is  true  that  the  only  sentiment  ap- 
pealed to,  in  the  enforcement  and  even  in  the  enactment  ofj 
supposed  needed  measures,  is  that  of  fear.  Their  religion/ 
being  one  of  fear,  it  is  therefore  appealed  to  to  lend  its  sanc- 
tion and  aid. 

"Fetiches  are  set  up  to  punish  offenders  in  certain  cases 
where  there  is  an  intention  to  make  a  law  specially  binding; 
this  refers  more  particularly  to  crimes  which  cannot  always 
be  detected.  A  fetich  is  inaugurated,  for  example,  to  detect 
and  punish  certain  kinds  of  theft;  persons  who  are  cognizant 
to  such  crimes,  and  who  do  not  give  information,  are  also 
liable  to  be  punished  b}'-  the  fetich.  The  fetich  is  supposed 
to  be  able  not  only  to  detect  all  such  transgressions,  but  has 
power,  likewise,  to  punish  the  transgressor.  How  it  exer- 
cises this  knowledge,  or  by  what  means  it  brings  sickness  and 
death  upon  the  offender,  cannot,  of  course,  be  explained ;  but, 
as  it  is  believed  in,  it  is  the  most  effectual  restraint  that  can 
possibly  be  imposed  upon  evil-disposed  persons."  ^ 

Among  the  Negro  tribes  of  the  Bight  of  Benin  and  the 
Bantu  of  the  region  of  Corisco  Island  and  of  the  Ogowe 
River,  in  what  is  now  the  Kongo-FrauQais,  there  was  a 
power  known  variously  as  Egbo,  Ukuku,  and  Yasi,  which 
tribes,  native  chiefs,  and  headmen  of  villages  invoked  as  a 
coujrtjofJLast  ^appeal,  for  the  passage  of  needed  laws,  or  the 
adjudication  of  some  quarrel  which  an  ordinary  family  or 
village  council  was  unable  to  settle. 

In  those  councils  an  offender  could  be  proved  guilty  of  a 
debt  or  theft,  or  other  trespass,  and  when  it  was  no  longer 
possible  for  him  by  audacity  or  mendacity  to  persist  in  his 
assertion  of  innocence,  he  would  yield  to  the  decision  of  the 
great  majority  against  him.     But  there  was  no  central  gov- 

1  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  p.  275, 


140  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

ernment  to  enforce  that  decision  or  exact  from  him  restitu- 
tion. The  only  authority  the  native  chiefs  possessed  was 
based  on  respect  due  to  age,  parental  position,  or  strength 
of  personal  character.  If  an  offender  chose  to  disregard  all 
these  considerations,  an  appeal  was  then  made  to  his  super- 
stitious fear. 

Egbo,  Ukuku,  Yasi,  was  a  secret  society  composed  only  of 
men,  boys  being  initiated  into  it  about  the  age  of  puberty. 
Members  were  bound  by  a  terrible  oath  and  under  pain  of 
death  to  obey  any  law  or  command  issued  by  the  spirit  under 
which  the  society  professed  to  be  organized.  The  actual, 
audible  utterance  of  the  command  was  by  the  voice  of  one 
of  the  members  of  the  society  chosen  as  priest  for  that  pur- 
pose. This  man,  secreted  in  the  forest,  in  a  clump  of  bushes 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  village,  or  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the 
Council  House,  disguised  his  voice,  speaking  only  gutturally. 
The  whole  proceeding  was  an  immense  fiction;  they  believed 
in  spirits  and  in  the  power  of  fetich  charms,  and  they  made 
such  charms  part  of  the  society's  ceremonies;  but,  as  to 
the  decisions,  all  the  members  knew  that  the  decision  in  any 
case  was  their  own,  not  a  spirit's.  They  knew  that  the  voice 
speaking  was  that  of  their  delegate,  not  of  a  spirit.  Yet  for 
any  one  of  them,  or  for  any  woman,  girl,  or  uninitiated  boy, 
to  assert  as  much  would  have  been  death.  And  those  men 
who  would  not  have  submitted  to  the  same  decision  if  ar- 
rived at  in  open  council  of  themselves  as  men^  and  known 
before  the  whole  village  to  be  speaking  only  as  men,  would 
instantly  submit  when  once  the  case  had  been  taken  to 
Ukuku 's  Court.  They  carried  out  that  fiction  all  their  lives. 
Let  a  man  order  his  wives  and  other  slaves  to  clear  the  over- 
grown village  paths,  they  might  hesitate  to  obey  by  inventing 
some  excuse  that  they  were  too  much  occupied  with  other 
work,  or  that  they  would  do  it  only  when  other  people  who 
also  used  the  same  path  should  assist;  or  if  under  the 
sting  of  a  kasa-nguvu  (lash  of  hippopotamus  hide  or  manatus 
skin)  they  started  to  do  the  work,  they  might  do  it  only 
partly  or  very  unsatisfactorily.       But   let  the    man   call   in 


FETICIIISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  141 

the  other  men  of  the  village  and  summon  a  meeting  of 
the  society,  the  recalcitrants  would  submit  instantly,  and 
in  terror  of  Ukuku's  voice;  much  as  they  might  possibly 
have  suspected  it  was  a  human  voice,  they  would  not  dare 
whisper  the  suspicion.  They  helped  to  carry  on  a  gigantic  lie. 
They  taught  their  little  children,  both  girls  and  boys,  that 
the  voice  belonged  to  a  spirit  which  ate  people  who  dis- 
obeyed him.  When  the  society  walked  in  procession  to  or 
from  their  appointed  rendezvous,  they  were  preceded  by  run- 
ners who,  with  a  well-recognized  cry  and  with  kasa-nguvu 
in  hand,  warned  all  on  the  path  of  the  coming  of  the  spirit. 
Women  and  children  hastened  to  get  out  of  the  way;  or,  if 
unable  to  hide  in  time,  they  averted  their  faces.  The 
penalty  when  a  woman  even  saw  the  procession  was  a  severe 
beating;  that,  however,  might  be  commuted  to  a  fine. 

About  thirty-nine  years  ago,  on  the  island  of  Corisco,  the 
then  headquarters  of  the  Corisco  Mission,  there  was  a  long- 
standing feud  between  the  Benga  tribe,  inhabiting  that  island, 
and  the  Kombe  tribe,  dwelling  at  the  mouth  of  the  Eyo  River, 
of  the  Benita  country,  fifty  miles  to  the  north.  Benita  was 
also  a  part  of  the  mission  field.  The  quarrel  between  the 
two  tribes  greatly  obstructed  our  mission  work.  Missionaries 
were  entirely  safe  in  travel  between  the  two  places,  respect 
being  given  them  as  foreigners,  and  their  presence  in  a  boat 
protected  their  crews ;  but  it  was  often  difficult  to  obtain  a 
crew  willing  to  go  on  the  journey  without  the  presence  of 
a  white  man.  The  difficulties  caused  by  the  feud  fell  heavily 
also  on  the  Benga  people  themselves.  The  island  itself  had 
no  products  for  trade;  ivorj'-,  dye-woods,  and  rubber  came 
from  the  Benita  mainland.  Many  Kombe  women  had  mar- 
ried Benga  men,  and  needed  frequently  to  revisit  their  own 
country.  Finally,  to  end  the  feud,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
Kombe  Ukuku  Society,  whose  power  was  held  in  even  greater 
fear  than  that  of  Benga,  should  come  to  Corisco  and  settle 
the  affair. 

It  was  a  day  of  terror  at  the  Girls'  Boarding  School,  of 
which   I   was   then   superintendent.      As   the   long,    blood- 


142  FETICHISM    IN    WEST   AFRICA 

curdling  yell  of  the  forerunners  on  the  public  path,  that  ran 
only  one  hundred  feet  from  the  school  dwelling,  announced 
the  approach  of  the  procession,  the  girls  fled,  affrighted,  to 
the  darkness  of  the  attic  of  the  house.  After  the  proces- 
sion had  passed,  they  ran  away  secretly  in  byways  to  their 
own  villages,  feeling  safer  in  the  darkness  of  their 
mother's  huts  than  in  the  mission-house;  for  it  had  been 
reported  that  Ukuku,  besides  settling  the  tribal  feud,  in- 
tended to  attack  the  mission  work  that  had  been  success- 
full}^  making  converts  among  the  Kombe,  because  any  native 
Avho  became  a  Christian  immediately  withdrew  from  member- 
ship in  the  society.  It  had  therefore  begun  to  feel  a  little 
anxious  about  its  safety.  I  stood  at  my  door  and  saw  the 
procession  pass ;  they  saw  me,  but,  because  of  my  sex,  they 
did  not  show  any  displeasure.  They  were  painted  with 
white  and  other  colored  chalks  that  gave  a  horrible  expres- 
sion to  their  faces ;  their  look  was  defiant,  and  a  hoarse,  mut- 
tered chant  had,  even  on  mj-self,  a  depressing  effect.  I  could 
well  imagine  that  to  a  superstitious  native  mind  the  tout 
ensemble  would  be  terrifying. 

The  procession  on  its  way  chose  to  pass  over  a  road  that 
had  by  use  become  somewhat  public,  but  which  was  owned 
by  the  mission;  it  was  only  fifty  feet  past  the  front  door 
of  the  house  of  the  senior  missionary,  the  Rev.  James  L. 
Mackey.  Mrs.  jNIackey  was  standing  at  the  door  of  the 
house ;  not  being  a  Benga  woman,  she  saw  no  reason  why 
she  should  retire  before  Ukuku,  and  stood  her  ground. 
Ukuku  went  to  their  rendezvous  in  a  rage,  and  the  Kombe 
portion  demanded  the  life  of  the  woman  who  not  only  had 
not  hidden  her  face  in  their  presence,  but  had  dared  persist- 
ently to  look  upon  them.  This  demand  was  modified  by  the 
Benga  portion  to  a  fine ;  its  alternative,  whipping,  not  even 
they  daring  to  suggest  for  a  white  lady.  This  demand  for 
a  fine  was  actually  brought  to  Mr.  Mackey,  who  gave  a  dig- 
nified repl}^  pointing  out  that,  as  foreigners,  white  people 
were  not  subject  to  Ukuku;  that  Ukuku  had  trespassed 
on  mission  private  property,  and  was  itself   responsible  for 


FETICHISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  lid 

being  seen;  that,  as  a  Christian,  in  no  case  could  he  rec- 
ognize the  authority  of  Ukuku  to  order  or  fine  him.  In 
reply,  Ukuku  made  the  point  that  it  was  the  government 
of  the  country,  and  that  even  foreigners  were  bound  to  obey 
law.  (Corisco  actually  belonged  to  Spain,  but  Spain  in  no 
way  exercised  any  visible  authority  over  it.) 

They  admitted  their  trespass  on  private  property,  but  still 
demanded  the  fine.  Mr.  Mackey  made  no  further  reply; 
and  of  course,  as  a  matter  of  conscience,  refused  to  pay  the 
fine.  But  it  transpired  afterwards  that  native  friends,  fear- 
ful lest  matters  should  come  to  an  ugly  pass  through  his 
refusal,  privately  paid  the  fine  themselves.  The  missionary, 
unaware  of  this,  thought  he  had  triumphed ;  really  Ukuku 
had,  but  not  unqualifiedly,  for  it  was  a  shock  to  its  power 
that  it  should  have  been  disputed  at  all,  even  by  a  white 
man. 

About  the  same  time  a  young  slave  man  who  was  begin- 
ning to  attend  church  with  desire  to  become  a  Christian,  was 
sitting  in  a  village  where  was  being  held  a  meeting  of  the 
local  Ukuku  Society.  The  object  of  the  meeting  was  to 
alarm  and  drive  back  to  a  more  constant  performance  of 
fetich  observances  some  of  the  villages  on  which  heathenism 
was  beginning  to  lose  its  hold.  In  the  course  of  his  oracular 
deliverances  the  Ukuku  priest  mentioned  by  name  this  young 
man.  In  his  fresh  zeal  as  a  convert  he  made  a  protest ;  per- 
haps duty  did  not  call  for  even  that  just  at  the  time,  but  he 
even  went  beyond.  As  he  was  able  to  recognize  the  voice, 
though  disguised,  and  knew  who  its  owner  was,  he  made  a 
fatal  mistake  in  saying,  "  You,  such-a-one,  I  know  who  you 
are ;  you  are  only  a  man ;  why  are  you  troubling  me  ?  "  He 
was  promptl}'  dragged  to  the  seaside  and  decapitated. 

While  converts  felt  the  propriety  of  abandoning  their 
membership  in  the  society  and  any  participation  in  its  cere- 
monies, the  mission  had  not  required  of  them  nor  deemed  it 
desirable  that  they  should  make  a  revelation  of  its  secrets. 
But  it  had  occurred  in  the  early  history  of  the  mission  that 
one  young  man,  Ibia,  a  freeman,  member  of   a  prominent 


144  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

family,  had  felt  that  in  breaking  away  from  heathenism  and 
becoming  a  Christian  he  should  cast  off  the  very  semblance 
of  any  connection  with  evil  or  even  tacit  endorsement  of  it. 
He  knew  the  society  was  based  on  a  great  falsehood.  As 
a  lad  he  had  believed  Ukuku  was  a  spirit;  on  his  initiation 
he  had  found  that  this  was  not  so ;  but  loyal  to  his  heathen- 
ism and  to  his  oath,  he  had  assented  to  the  lie  and  had  as- 
sisted in  propagating  it.  He  was  known  for  the  fearlessness 
of  his  convictions,  and  in  his  conversion  he  to  a  rare  degree 
emerged  from  all  superstitious  beliefs.  Few  emerge  so  ut- 
terly as  he.  He  therefore  publicly  began  to  reveal  the  cere- 
monies practised  in  the  Ukuku  meetings.  At  once  his  life 
was  in  danger.  The  two  pioneer  missionaries.  Rev.  Messrs. 
Mackey  and  Clemens,  were  men  of  exceptional  strength  of 
character  and  wise  judgment,  and  had  obtained  a  very  strong 
hold  on  the  respect  and  affection  even  of  the  heathen.  Their 
influence,  united  with  a  small  party  of  Ibia's  own  family  and 
a  few  of  the  more  civilized  chiefs,  was  able  to  save  his  life, 
he  being  guarded  in  the  mission-house  until  the  fierceness  of 
heathen  rage  should  abate.  But,  though  his  enemies  pres- 
ently ceased  from  open  efforts  to  kill  him  by  force,  they 
proclaimed  that  they  would  kill  him  by  means  of  the  very 
witchcraft  power  he  was  despising.  They  said  they  would 
concoct  fetich  charms  which  would  destroy  the  life  of  his 
child,  and  that  they  would  curse  the  ground  on  which  he 
trod  so  that  it  should  sicken  his  feet.  Not  lonsr  afterwards 
his  infant  child  did  die,  and  one  of  his  feet  for  more  than  a 
year  had  a  painful  ulcer.  The  coincidence  was  startling,  and 
somewhat  triumphant  for  the  heathen;  but  infant  mortality 
is  large  even  among  natives,  and  phagedenic  ulcers  of  the  leg 
are  very  common.  Ibia  recognized  his  afflictions  as  a  trial 
of  his  faith  permitted  by  God.  He  came  out  of  his  fiery  trial 
strong,  and  his  life  since  has  been  that  of  a  reformer,  uncom- 
promising with  any  evil,  earning  from  his  own  people  their 
ill-will  by  his  scathing  denunciations  of  anything  that  savored 
of  superstition.  He  became  the  Rev.  Ibia  j'Ikenge,  mem- 
ber of  Corisco  Presbytery  and  pastor  of  the  Corisco  church ; 


FETICHISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  145 

and  Ukuku  has  long  since  ceased  to  exist  as  a  power  on  the! 
island. 

Like  all  government  intended  for  the  benefit  and  protec- 
tion of  the  governed,  Ukuku,  when  it  happened  to  throw  its 
power  on  the  side  of  right,  was  occasionally  an  apparent  bless- 
ing. It  could  end  tribal  quarrels  and  proclaim  and  enforce 
peace  where  no  individual  chief  or  king  Avould  have  been  able 
to  accomplish  the  same  result.  In  this  connection  I  quote 
from  an  editorial  in  a  Sierra  Leone  newspaper: 

"  Much  of  the  ideas  of  our  western  civilization  as  to  native 
African  institutions  have  been  crude  and  uninformed,  based 
on  misconception  and  a  predisposition  to  consider  such  insti- 
tutions as  an  outcome  of  barbarism  and  savagery,  to  be  treated 
with  unmitigated  contempt.  But  as  the  light  of  modern  re- 
searches is  reflected  on  the  question  by  sympathetic  students 
who  have  brought  an  unprejudiced  mind  to  bear  on  the  sub- 
ject, if  haply  they  might  discover  the  hidden  truths  under- 
lying the  fabric  which  age,  custom,  and  intellect  have  combined 
to  construct  into  a  national  system,  it  is  becoming  more  and 
more  apparent  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  material 
progress  of  Africa  and  the  Africans  and  who  are  believers 
in  the  fact  that  native  races  have  a  civilization  of  their  own 
capable  of  development  and  expansion  on  right  lines,  that 
the  study  of  such  questions  should  be  intelligently  and  scien- 
tifically pursued,  and  with  a  purpose  to  help  those  concerned 
in  their  onward  progress  towards  the  attainment  of  moral, 
social,  and  intellectual  liberty. 

"That  [some]  native  [governmental]  institutions  have 
wielded,  and  are  wielding,  a  power  for  good  in  the  several 
communities  belonging  to  each  distinctive  tribe,  is  a  fact  that 
cannot  be  disputed  or  contested,  in  the  past  as  well  as  in  the 
present.  The  Aro  of  the  Yorubas  [in  the  Niger  Delta],  the 
Porroh  of  the  Mendis  [of  Sierra  Leone],  and  the  Bondo  of 
the  mixed  mass  who  inhabit  Sherbro-land,  have  and  exer- 
cise judicial  functions  exemplary  and  disciplinary  in  their 
effects.  By  their  means  law  and  order  are  observed  to  such 
an  extent  that  many  of  the  unrestrained  and  rowdy  outbursts 

10 


14G  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

cowardly  indulged  in  by  so-called  civilized  communities  and 
people  are  practically  unknown. 

"  These  institutions  are  connected  with  and  govern  the  agen- 
cies that  work  in  the  sociology  of  all  communities,  such  as  the 
marriage  laws ;  the  relation  of  children  to  parents  and  of  sex 
to  sex  ;  social  laws  ;  the  position  of  eldership  and  the  deference 
to  be  paid  to  age  and  worth ;  native  herbs  and  medicines,  and 
the  duties  of  the  native  doctor  to  the  other  members  of 
the  community." 

On  one  occasion  in  1861  the  Rev.  William  Clemens  took  a 
young  Benga  man  from  Coriseo  Island  to  locate  him  as  evan- 
gelist in  the  bounds  of  a  mainland  heathen  tribe  where  there 
was  some  doubt  as  to  the  young  man's  safety.  The  village 
chief,  though  a  heathen  and  entirely  uninterested  in  the  reli- 
gious aspect  of  the  case,  was  alive  to  the  fact  that  the  presence 
among  his  people  of  this  young  proteg^  of  the  white  man 
would  increase  his  tribal  importance,  and  that  his  people 
themselves  would  derive  a  pecuniary  benefit  from  even  the 
small  amount  of  money  that  would  be  spent  on  the  evangelist's 
food.  He  therefore  voluntarily  offered  to  call  an  Ukuku 
meeting  and  have  a  law  enacted  that  no  one  should  machinate 
against  the  Benga's  life  by  fetiches  of  any  kind.  Mr.  Clemens 
declined  the  offer.  If  he  accepted  Ukuku's  authority  to  de- 
fend him,  he  might  some  day  be  called  on  to  submit  to  the 
same  power  as  an  authority  to  punish  him.  He  wisely  avoided 
an  entangling  alliance.  He  told  the  chief  that  he  preferred  to 
entrust  his  prot^g^  to  his  care  and  to  rely  on  his  promise 
rather  than  on  Ukuku's.  This  compliment  put  the  chief  on 
his  mettle  ;  the  evangelist's  protection  became  to  him  a  case 
of  noblesse  oblige. 

The  power  of  this  society  was  often  used  as  a  boycott  to 
compel  white  traders  as  to  the  prices  of  their  goods,  using  in- 
timidation and  violence  after  the  manner  of  trades  unions  in 
civilized  countries.  This  was  true  all  along  the  West  Coast 
of  Africa  wherever  no  white  government  had  been  established. 
It  ceased  at  Libreville,  in  the  Gabun  country,  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  French  colony  in  1843,  with  a  white  governor,  a 


FETICHISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  147 

squad  of  soldiers,  police,  and  a  gunboat.  Also  at  other  trade 
centres  such  as  Libreville,  Ukuku  earl}^  lost  its  position,  for 
the  population  was  too  heterogeneous  and  there  were  too  many 
diverse  interests.  At  the  large  trading-houses  were  gathered 
native  clerks  and  a  staff  of  servants  as  cooks,  personal  attend- 
ants, boatmen,  etc.,  representing  a  score  of  tribes  from  distant 
})arts  of  the  coast.  Whatever  obedience  they  gave  to  similar 
societies  in  their  tribes,  they  did  not  feel  bound  by  the  local 
one,  to  which  they  were  strangers ;  and  they  were  disposed, 
under  a  community  of  trade  interests  with  their  employers,  to 
disregard  the  society  of  the  local  tribe,  to  many  of  whom  they 
felt  themselves  socially  superior. 

But  at  Batanga,  in  what  is  now  the  Kamerun  colony  of  the 
(lierman  Government,  the  Ukuku  Society  forty  years  ago  car- 
ried itself  with  a  high  hand.  Batanga  was  not  then  claimed 
by  any  European  nation,  and  the  number  of  white  men  were 
few.  Its  trade  in  ivory  was  one  of  the  richest  on  the  West 
Coast  of  Africa,  —  so  rich  that  the  Bataiiga  people  became  arro- 
gant. Some  of  them  disdained  to  make  plantations  of  native 
food  supply,  and  lived  almost  entirely  on  foreign  imported  pro- 
visions, taking  in  exchange  for  their  abundant  ivory  barrels 
of  beef,  bags  of  rice,  and  boxes  of  ship's  biscuit.  It  was 
a  case  of  demand  and  suppl}^  Tlie  native  got  what  he  wanted 
in  goods,  and  the  white  man  obtained  the  precious  ivory. 
But  in  the  competitions  of  trade,  fluctuations  in  the  market, 
and  the  growing  demand  of  the  natives  for  a  higher  price, 
tliere  came  days  when  some  white  man,  seeing  the  margin  of 
liis  per  cent  of  gain  becoming  too  narrow,  refused  the  current 
price.  Doubtless  often  the  white  men  were  arbitrary,  not  only 
in  prices  but  also  in  other  matters.  Doubtless,  also,  the  natives 
were  often  exorbitant  in  their  demands.  When  the  differences 
became  extreme,  the  native  chiefs  called  in  the  aid  of  Ukuku. 
The  phrase  was  to  "  put  Ukuku  "  on  the  white  man's  house. 
The  trader  was  boycotted.  He  stood  as  under  a  major  excom- 
munication. No  one  should  buy  from,  or  sell  to  him.  No 
one  should  work  for  him.  He  was  deserted  by  cook,  steward, 
washerman,  and  all  otlier  personal  attendants.    Sentinels  stood 


148  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

on  guard  to  prevent  food  being  brouglit  to  him,  or  even  to  pre- 
vent his  lighting  a  fire  in  his  own  kitchen  if  he  should  at- 
tempt to  cook  for  himself. 

The  white  trader  generally  succeeded  in  breaking  down 
the  interdict  put  upon  him  by  these  means,  viz.  (1)  He 
had  in  his  house  a  supply  of  canned  goods  and  ship's  biscuit, 
with  which  he  would  not  starve.  (2)  His  Negro  mistress 
almost  always  remained  faithfully  with  him,  secretly  assisting 
him,  divulging  to  him  the  plans  of  her  own  people,  —  as  in  the 
history  of  Cortes  and  the  conquest  of  Mexico.  She  dared  to 
do  this,  being  tacitly  upheld  by  her  own  family.  The  position 
of  "  wife  "  to  a  white  man  was  considered  by  the  natives 
an  honorable  one,  and  was  sought  by  parents  for  their 
daughters.  It  was  an  exceptional  source  of  wealth  for  them. 
(3)  If  other  means  failed,  the  trader  could  almost  always 
break  the  boycott  by  bribes  of  rum.  Time  was  money  to  him ; 
often,  indeed,  in  a  malarial  country  it  was  life  to  him. 
Though  time  was  wortii  nothing  to  the  natives,  the  rum  they 
had  learned  to  love  became  a  necessity  to  them.  In  cutting 
the  white  man  from  their  ivory,  they  had  cut  themselves  from 
the  white  man's  rum.  A  judicious  expenditure  of  demijohns 
in  proper  quarters  generally  enabled  Ukuku  to  revoke  his 
own  law.  Then,  perhaps,  the  white  man  would  make  some 
slight  concession. 

I  had  an  experience  of  this  kind  in  the  Benita  country  in 
1868.  I  had  been  there  several  years.  There  was  growth  in 
the  desire  for  the  good  things  that  money  can  buy,  but  wages 
and  prices  had  remained  unchanged.  I  was  obtaining  all  I 
needed  of  both  labor  and  food  without  dilificulty.  Had  I  had 
any  difficulty,  I  should  naturally  have  offered  more  induce- 
ment. I  was  not  aware  that  there  was  any  discontent.  None 
of  my  employees  had  asked  for  a  rise,  nor  had  people,  in  sell- 
ing their  produce,  complained  of  the  price  I  gave. 

Suddenly,  one  morning,  a  company  of  about  twenty  men, 
led  by  an  ambitious  heathen  whose  manner  had  always  been 
dictatorial  to  me  and  to  whom  I  had  shown  no  favor,  filed 
into  the  public  meeting-room  of  our  mission-house.     I  knew 


oi 


FETICHISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  149 

them  all ;  none  were  in  my  employ,  nor  were  any  of  them 
Christians.  As  if  they  thought  it  was  hopeless  to  attempt  to 
obtain  anything  from  me  by  petition  or  respectful  request, 
they  seemed  to  have  decided  to  stake  all  on  a  demand  and 
threat.  They  suddenly  and  harshly  began,  "  We  've  come  to 
order  you  to  change  prices."  Naturally  I  felt  nettled  and  re- 
plied that  I  saw  no  reason  why  I  should  take  orders  from 
them.  They  rose  in  a  rage  and  said,  "  Then  we  '11  put  Ukuku 
on  you  —  (1)  no  one  shall  work  for  you  ;  (2)  no  one  shall  sell 
you  food  or  drink;  (3)  you  shall  not  go  yourself  to  your 
sj)ring ; "  and  with  a  savage  yell  they  left  the  liouse.  In- 
stantly a  great  terror  fell  on  the  native  members  of  my  house- 
hold. Those  who  were  heathen  dropped  work  and  went  to  their 
villages.  Those  who  were  Christians  came  to  me  distressed, 
saying  that  they  desired  to  obey  me,  but  they  feared  the  inter- 
dict. I  relieved  the  situation  for  them  by  excusing  them  from 
further  work  "till  I  should  call  them,"  and  refrained  from 
ringing  the  call-bell  at  the  usual  work  hour. 

With  me  were  Mrs,  Nassau,  our  child's  nurse,  my  sister 
Miss  I.  A.  Nassau,  and  two  native  girls,  members  of  another 
tribe.  Nurse  was  a  foreigner,  a  Christian  Liberian  woman, 
who  was  not  amenable  to  the  interdict.  Some  of  my  Chris- 
tian employees,  though  not  working,  remained  on  the  prem- 
ises. A  few  visitors  came  in  the  afternoon,  —  some,  as  sincere 
friends,  to  sympathize ;  some  in  curiosity,  to  see  how  we  were 
feeling ;  and  some  as  spies,  to  see  what  we  were  doing.  The 
interdict,  except  as  an  expression  of  ill-will  and  a  possible 
check  to  my  mission  work,  did  not  trouble  me.  As  to  food, 
I  had  an  ample  supply  of  canned  provisions,  sufficient  for  a 
long  siege.  In  refusing  to  sell  me  their  native  products, 
the  people  would  miss  more  than  I  should.  As  to  work,  the 
cleaning  of  the  premises  was  not  pressing  and  could  safely  be 
neglected.  As  to  drinking-water,  enough  could  be  caught 
from  the  roof  in  the  almost  daily  rains.  Food  and  labor  were 
their  own,  to  refuse  if  they  chose.  But  the  spring  was  on 
my  premises  and  belonged  to  me.  To  refrain  from  going  to 
it  might  be  deemed  cowardice ;  at  least  it  would  be  obeying 


150  FETICH  ISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

an  order  of  what  Ukuku  claimed  Avas  a  spirit.  An  order  from 
men  I  might  submit  to  under  compulsion ;  to  submit  to  this 
spirit  went  against  my  conscience.  After  prayer  and  consid- 
eration overnight,  Mrs.  Nassau  fully  agreed  with  me  that  it 
was  right  I  should  make  a  demonstration  at  the  spring.  In 
parting  with  her  next  morning,  as  I  took  up  a  bucket  to  go 
to  the  spring,  she  knew  I  might  not  return  alive.  A  sandy 
path  led  through  low  bushes  to  the  spring,  several  hundred 
yards  distant.  I  saw  no  one  on  the  way  nor  at  the  spring.  I 
filled  the  bucket  and  was  turning  homeward,  when  a  spy, 
armed  with  a  spear,  jumped  out  of  his  ambush  and  ordered 
me  to  leave  the  water.  As  I  did  not  do  so,  but  started  to 
walk  over  the  path,  he  stabbed  at  my  back.  I  thrust  the 
spear  aside  and  faced  him,  but  walking  backward  all  the 
time  kept  my  eye  steadily  on  his.  He  feared  my  eye  (most 
native  Africans  cannot  stand  a  white  man's  fixed  look)  and 
did  not  attempt  to  stab  me  in  front,  but  tried  to  spill  the 
water  in  the  bucket  and  stab  me  from  behind.  But  the 
bucket  and  its  contents  I  guarded,  as  he  struck  at  it  from 
right  to  left,  by  rapidly  changing  it  from  left  to  right  with 
one  hand  and  warding  off  the  spear  with  tlie  other.  Still  walk- 
ing backward,  and  keeping  my  eye  on  him,  the  bucket  and  I 
reached  the  house  in  safety. 

He  hastened  to  the  native  villages,  whence  soon  I  heard  a 
great  outcry.  A  company  of  Christian  natives  came  in  haste, 
saying  that  Ukuku  was  on  his  way  to  assault  the  house,  and 
that  they  and  other  young  men,  even  some  who  were  not 
Christians,  would  fight  for  me  against  their  heathen  parents 
if  I  could  provide  them  powder.  I  supplied  them.  Then 
they  bade  me  hasten  and  fasten  all  doors  and  windows. 

The  mission  dwelling  consisted  of  two  houses  joined  by 
a  covered  veranda,  —  one,  a  one-storied  bamboo;  the  other 
framed  of  boards,  one  and  a  half  story.  Mrs.  Nassau  was 
in  the  latter,  closing  it.  Before  I  had  finished  closing  the 
former,  the  enemies  came,  and  I  was  alone  in  the  bamboo 
house.  Shots  rattled  against  the  walls.  Through  the  chinks 
I  could  see  the  yoimg  men  were  guarding  all  entrances  and 


FETICIIISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  151 

firing.  I  think  that  in  this  diflicnlt  situation,  defending  me 
against  their  own  people,  they  pui|)osely  fired  wide,  for  no 
one  was  even  wounded.  But  their  armed  stand  checked 
the  enemies,  who  then  soon  retired.  In  after  years  these 
were  ashamed  of  their  assault,  and  tried  to  minimize  it,  when 
it  was  related  to  new  missionaries,  by  representing  that  they 
did  not  intend  to  kill  me.  I  accepted  that  as  a  kindly  after- 
thought. Certainly  the  spy  at  the  spring  intended,  and 
tried  hard,  to  kill  me.  Certainly,  also,  tlieir  gunshots  left 
their  marks  on  the  walls  of  the  bamboo  house,  and,  for  aught 
they  knew,  had  penetrated  the  thin  walls  and  might  have 
struck  me. 

That  their  interdict  had  been  successfully  broken,  and  that, 
too,  by  the  aid  of  their  own  sons,  was  a  great  blow  to  the 
Ukuku  party.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  its  power. 
Four  years  later,  while  I  was  absent  on  my  furlough,  the 
number  of  the  church-members  having  largely  increased,  two 
young  men,  themselves  of  strong  character  and  imbued  with 
the  courage  of  my  able  successor  at  Benita,  Rev.  Samuel 
Howell  Murphy,  deliberately  determined  to  "  reveal  Ukuku." 
They  walked  through  a  village  street  openly  shouting  to  the 
women  that  "Ukuku  is  only  a  man."  At  once  their  lives 
were  demanded ;  but  so  many  of  their  companions  stood  up 
for  them,  and  said  to  their  fathers,  "  The  day  you  kill  those 
two  you  will  have  to  kill  all  of  us,  for  we  all  say  also  that 
Ukuku  is  only  a  person,"  that  Ukuku  was  amazed.  Nev- 
ertheless the  society  met.  But  when  the  members  looked  in 
each  othei's  faces,  each  one  knew  that  in  voting  to  put  to  death 
the  other  men's  sons,  he  was  voting  also  against  his  own  son. 
The  society  could  have  dared  to  kill  one  or  two,  but  to  kill 
a  score  !  They  shrank  from  it.  Every  one  thought  of  his  own 
son  thus  involved,  and  the  great  lie  was  exposed  and  died. 

In  1879,  on  the  Ogowe  River,  at  my  interior  station, 
Kangwe,  near  the  town  of  Lambarene,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  up  the  course  of  the  river,  I  had  a  similar  experi- 
ence Avith  that  same  societ}',  known  there  in  the  Galwa  tribe 
by  the  name  of  Yasi. 


152  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

In  my  new  work  on  the  Ogowe,  I  pursued  toward  that 
society  the  same  course  I  had  followed  with  Ukuku  at  Benita. 
I  preached  simply  the  gospel  of  Christ ;  but  it  is  true  that 
the  gospel  touches  mankind  in  all  their  human  relations.  I 
therefore  was  not  silent  about  such  sins  as  slavery  and 
polygamy,  any  more  than  I  would  be  silent  about  the  sins  of 
drunkenness  or  theft.  All  these  were  practices  the  evil  of 
wliich  in  serious  moments  most  natives  would  admit,  however 
much  they  chose  still  to  persist  in  them.  But  witchcraft  was 
their  religion  ;  they  believed  in  it.  To  attack  it  openly  would 
only  offend,  and  I  would  lose  the  personal  influence  which 
I  was  able  to  exercise  in  quiet,  private  discussions.  Yasi, 
though  a  falsehood,  was  their  government.  To  attack  it 
would  have  simply  emptied  my  church  of  every  heathen 
auditor,  and  would  have  debarred  any  women  or  children 
from  receiving  further  instruction.  I  could  afford  to  bide 
my  time,  for  the  entering  wedge  of  Christian  principles 
to  overthrow  what  I  could  never  have  removed  by  direct 
onslaught.  In  conversations  with  my  heathen  friends,  the 
native  chiefs,  in  their  own  houses,  when  no  women  or  children 
happened  to  be  present,  I  would  expostulate  with  them  against 
such  a  mode  of  government.  I  told  them  I  would  render 
them  respect  and  even  obedience,  if  as  persons  they  should 
enact  laws  affecting  me  as  a  person,  but  that  I  could  give 
neither  respect  nor  obedience  to  what  they  knew  I  knew  was 
a  lie.  They  looked  troubled,  and  replied,  "  Yes,  that 's  so, 
but  don't  tell  it  to  the  women."  And  I  did  not.  Neverthe- 
less, in  my  untrammelled  conversations  in  the  mission-house 
with  my  own  Christian  male  employees,  I  was  not  careful 
to  be  silent  if  our  school-boys  happened  to  be  present ;  and 
these  same  employees  in  their  own  dormitories  deliberately 
and  intentionally  told  the  boys  of  the  falsities  of  their  tribal 
superstitions.  They  were  right.  This  was  Christian  prin- 
ciple, working  as  I  desired  it  should.  Inevitably  there  grew 
up  a  generation  of  lads  who  began  to  deride  Yasi,  and  said 
that  they  would  never  join  the  society. 

There  came  one  day  a  delegation  of  them  led  by  two  Chris- 


FETICHISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  153 

tian  young  men,  M§,mM  and  Nguva,  asking  my  permission  to 
play  a  mock  Yasi  meeting.  I  asked  them,  "  Will  you  dare  to 
play  that  same  play  in  your  own  villages  ?  "  "  No,  we  would 
be  afraid."  "  Then  don't  do  here  what  you  are  unable  to  carry 
out  elsewhere.  I  cannot  defend  you  in  your  own  villages. 
You  are  safe  here  ;  wait  until  you  are  stronger  and  more 
numerous.  Just  now  your  play  will  create  confusion." 
Nevertheless  they  did  play,  with  the  result  which  I  had  fore- 
told. The  chiefs  were  deeply  enraged.  They  "put  Yasi" 
oil  my  house,  which  meant  that  I  was  not  to  be  visited  nor 
sold  any  food.  There  was  a  report,  also,  that  the  mission 
premises  were  to  be  assaulted  with  guns.  The  loss  of  food 
supply  was  a  serious  difficulty.  I  did  not  need  any  for  myself 
and  sister,  nor  for  the  two  young  missionaries,  both  of  them 
laymen  who  were  visiting  me  from  a  sea-coast  station,  and 
who  could  not  understand  the  case  in  all  its  aspects,  for  they 
had  never  met  with  the  society's  power ;  it  did  not  exist  at 
their  station,  having  been  broken  before  they  came  to  Africa, 
liut  how  was  I  to  feed  thirty  hungry  school-boys  ?  I  had 
to  send  most  of  them  away  to  their  distant  homes  down 
the  river;  and  my  canoes  returned  with  a  temporary  food 
supply  that  they  had  been  able  to  buy  at  places  on  the  route 
where  news  of  the  interdict  had  not  as  yet  been  officially 
carried. 

The  dozen  young  men  who  remained  with  me  I  armed  with 
guns  obtained  from  a  neighboring  trading-house,  and  I  posted 
sentinels  every  night  to  guard  against  sudden  assault.  I 
went  to  the  native  villages  and  met  a  council  of  several  chiefs. 
They  seemed  desirous  to  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  myself, 
but  they  were  angry  at  their  own  children.  They  took  me  to 
task  for  my  warlike  preparations.  These  I  told  them  were 
for  defence,  that  I  would  use  the  guns  onl}^  when  they  com- 
pelled me  to  do  so.  Then  they  complained  that  I  had  taught 
their  children  to  disobey  them.  I  denied,  stating  that  one  of 
the  greatest  of  God's  commands  which  I  had  taught  them 
was  to  honor  their  parents.  But  I  added  that  the  Father  in 
Heaven  claimed  priority  even  to  an  earthly  parent ;  and  how 


154  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

could  children  really  honor  parents  who  were  persistently 
deceiving  them  about  Yasi,  who  they  knew  was  only  a  person  ? 
They  winced,  and  looking  towards  some  women  who  were 
passing  by,  said,  "Don't  speak  so  loud,  the  women  will  hear 
you."  They  made  another  complaint,  viz.,  that  I  was  trying 
to  change  their  customs  ;  they  bade  me  leave  them  alone 
in  their  customs ;  I  could  keep  my  white  customs,  and  they 
would  keep  theirs.  I  frankly  told  them  that  I  would  be 
pleased  to  see  some  of  their  customs  which  were  evil  changed, 
but  that  neither  I  nor  any  other  missionary  could  compel  them 
to  change  ;  that,  nevertheless,  these  customs  would  be  changed 
in  their  and  my  own  lifetime.  They  were  terribly  aroused, 
and  swore,  "  Never  !  never !  You  can't  change  them."  "  No, 
not  I ;  but  they  will  be  changed."  "  Never !  Who  can  or 
who  will  do  it?"  "Your  own  sons."  "Then  we  will  kill 
our  own  sons." 

They  seemed  to  transfer  their  anger  against  me  to  their 
own  children.  The  interdict  against  my  house  was  not  for- 
mally removed,  but  it  was  not  rigidly  enforced.  I  no  longer 
felt  it  necessary  to  post  sentinels  at  night,  and  secretly, 
at  night,  a  sister  of  one  of  these  very  chiefs  sold  me  food  for 
my  family.  But  the  heathen  rage  spread  down  the  river  to 
the  villages  of  the  disbanded  school  children  and  native 
Christians.  One  of  these,  Nguva,  was  seized,  chained,  and 
offered  to  Yasi  "  to  be  eaten."  He  was  rescued  by  a  daring 
expedition  made  by  my  two  lay  missionary  visitors,  who  went 
in  my  six-oared  gig  with  my  twelve  enthusiastic  young  native 
Christian  workmen.  They  went  fifteen  miles  down  river, 
were  secretly  directed  by  one  of  the  little  school-boys  to  the 
village  where  Nguva  was  chained  in  stocks,  assaulted  the 
village  at  the  mid-afternoon  hour,  when  almost  all  the  men 
were  away,  cut  Nguva  from  the  stocks,  and  brought  him  in 
triumph  to  my  house.  But  in  their  retreat  up  the  river  they 
had  for  a  distance  of  five  miles  been  subjected  to  a  fusillade 
of  native  guns  from  both  sides  of  the  river.  The  river  was 
wide,  and  they  kept  in  mid-stream,  and  no  one  was  injured. 
But  the  consequences  of  that  resort  to  arms  made  me  much 


FETICHISM  — A   GOVERNMENT  155 

trouble  after  my  visitors  liad  safely  returned  to  their  seaside 
station.  According  to  native  law,  I,  and  not  my  guests,  was 
held  as  the  responsible  party,  and  the  affair  was  not  satisfac- 
torily settled  until  some  months  afterward. 

My  prophecy  came  true ;  less  than  ten  years  later  little 
children  were  playing  Yasi  as  amusement  in  the  village 
streets.  Nguva  became  an  elder  in  the  church.  He  is  now 
dead.  His  chain  is  a  trophy  in  the  Foreign  Board's  Museum, 
156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

Mamba  still  lives,  working  faithfully  as  a  church  elder 
and  evangelist. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  FETICH  — ITS   RELATION   TO  THE  FAMILY 

IN  most  tribes  of  the  Bantu  the  unit  in  the  constitution  of 
the  community  is  the  family,  not  the  individual.  How- 
ever successful  a  man  may  be  in  trade,  hunting,  or  any  other 
means  of  gaining  wealth,  he  cannot,  even  if  he  would,  keep 
it  all  to  himself.  He  must  share  with  the  family,  whose 
indolent  members  thus  are  supported  by  the  more  energetic 
or  industrious.  I  often  urged  my  civilized  employees  not  to 
spend  so  promptly,  almost  on  pay-day  itself,  their  wages  in 
the  purchase  of  things  they  really  did  not  need.  I  repre- 
sented that  they  should  lay  by  "  for  a  rainy  day."  But  they 
said  that  if  it  was  known  that  they  had  money  laid  up,  their 
relatives  would  give  them  no  peace  until  they  had  com- 
pelled them  to  draw  it  and  divide  it  with  them.  They  all 
yielded  to*  this,  —  the  strong,  the  intelligent,  the  diligent, 
submitting  to  their  family,  though  they  knew  that  their 
hard-earned  pay  was  going  to  support  weakness,  heathenism, 
and  thriftlessness. 

Not  only  financial  rights,  but  all  other  individual  rights 
and  responsibilities,  were  absorbed  by  the  superior  right  and 
duty  of  the  family.  If  an  individual  committed  theft,  mur- 
der, or  any  other  crime,  the  offended  party  would,  if  conven- 
ient, lay  hold  of  him  for  punishment.  But  only  if  it  was 
convenient;  to  this  plaintiff  justice  in  the  case  was  fully 
satisfied  if  any  member  of  the  offender's  family  could  be 
caught  or  killed,  or,  if  the  offence  was  great,  even  any 
member  of  the  offender's  tribe. 

Families  recognized  this  custom  as  proper,  and  submitted 
to  it;  for  the  family   expected  to  stand  by  and  assist  and 


RELATION  TO   THE   FAMILY  157 

defend  all  its  members,  whether  right  or  wrong.  Each 
member  relied  upon  the  family  for  escape  from  personal 
punisliment,  or  for  help  in  their  individual  weakness  or 
inability. 

In  getting  a  wife,  for  instance,  no  young  man  had  saved  up 
enough  to  buy  one.  His  wages  or  other  gains,  year  after 
year,  beyond  what  he  had  squandered  on  himself,  had  been 
squandered  on  members  of  his  family.  The  family  therefore 
all  contributed  to  the  purchase  of  the  wife.  Though  he 
thenceforth  owned  her  as  his  wife,  the  family  had  claims  on 
her  for  various  services  and  work  which  neither  he  nor  she 
could  refuse. 

If  in  the  course  of  time  he  had  accumulated  other  women 
as  a  pol3'ganii8t,  and,  subsequently  becoming  a  Christian,  was 
required  to  put  away  all  but  one  (according  to  missionary 
rule),  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  do  so,  not  because  of  any 
special  affection  for  the  women  involved  in  the  dismissal,  nor 
for  pity  of  any  hardship  that  might  come  to  the  women  them- 
selves. True,  they  would  be  a  pecuniary  loss  to  him;  but 
his  Christianity,  if  sincere,  could  accept  that.  And  the  dis- 
missal of  the  extra  women  does  not,  in  Africa,  impose  on 
them  special  shame,  nor  any  hardship  for  self-support,  as  in 
some  other  countries.  The  real  trouble  is  that  they  are  not 
his  to  dismiss  without  family  consent.  The  family  had  a 
pecuniary  claim  on  them,  and  the  heathen  members  thereof 
are  not  willing  to  let  them  go  free  back  to  their  people.  If 
this  man  puts  them  away,  he  must  give  them  to  some  man  or 
men  in  the  family  pale  who  probably  already  are  polygamists. 
The  property  must  be  kept  in  the  family  inheritance.  Thus, 
though  attempting  to  escape  from  polygamy  himself,  this 
man  would  be  a  consenting  party  in  fastening  it  on  others. 
His  offence  before  the  church  therefore  would  still  be  much 
the  same. 

For  such  concentrated  interests  as  are  represented  in  the 
family,  there  naturally  would  be  fetiches  to  guard  those  in- 
terests separate  from  the  individual  fetich  with  its  purely 
personal  interests. 


158  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Respect  for  the  family  fetich  is  cognate  to  the  worship  of 
the  spirits  of  ancestors.  Among  the  Barotse  of  South  Africa, 
for  this  worship,  "they  have  altars  in  their  huts  made  of 
branches,  on  which  they  place  human  bones,  but  they  have 
no  images,  pictures,  or  idols." 

Among  the  Mpongwe  tribes  of  Western  Equatorial  Africa, 
"the  profound  respect  for  aged  persons,  by  a  very  natural 
operation  of  the  mind,  is  turned  into  idolatrous  regard  for 
them  when  dead.  It  is  not  supposed  that  they  are  divested 
of  their  power  and  influence  by  death,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  raised  to  a  higher  and  more  powerful  sphere  of  in- 
fluence, and  hence  the  natural  disposition  of  the  living,  and 
especially  those  related  to  them  in  any  way  in  this  world,  to 
look  to  them,  and  call  upon  them  for  aid  in  all  the  emergen- 
cies and  trials  of  life.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  large 
groups  of  men  and  women,  in  times  of  peril  or  distress,  as- 
sembled along  the  brow  of  some  commanding  eminence 
or  along  the  skirts  of  some  dense  forest,  calling  in  the 
most  piteous  and  touching  tones  upon  the  spirits  of  their 
ancestors. 

"  Images  are  used  in  the  worship  of  ancestors,  but  they  are 
seldom  exposed  to  public  view.  They  are  kept  in  some  secret 
corner,  and  the  man  who  has  them  in  charge,  especially  if 
they  are  intended  to  represent  a  father  or  predecessor  in 
office,  takes  food  and  drink  to  them,  and  a  very  small  por- 
tion of  almost  anything  that  is  gained  in  trade. 

"  But  a  yet  more  prominent  feature  of  this  ancestral  wor- 
ship is  to  be  found  in  the  preservation  and  adoration  of  the 
bones  of  the  dead,  which  may  be  fairly  regarded  as  a  species 
of  relic  worship.  The  skulls  of  distinguished  persons  are 
preserved  with  the  utmost  care,  but  always  kept  out  of  sight. 
I  have  known  the  head  of  a  distinguished  man  to  be  dis- 
severed from  the  body  when  it  was  but  partly  decomposed, 
and  suspended  so  as  to  drip  upon  a  mass  of  chalk  provided 
for  the  purpose.  The  brain  is  supposed  to  be  the  seat  of 
wisdom,  and  the  chalk  absorbs  this  by  being  placed  under 
the  head  during  the  process  of  decomposition.     By  appljing 


RELATION   TO   THE    FAMILY  159 

this  to  the  foreheads  of  the  living,  it  is  supposed  they  will 
imbibe  the  wisdom  of  the  person  whose  brain  has  dripped 
upon  the  chalk."  ' 

In  the  Benga  tribe,  just  north  of  the  equator,  in  West 
Africa,  this  family  fetich  is  known  by  the  name  of  Yaka.  It 
is  a  bundle  of  parts  of  the  bodies  of  their  dead.  From  time 
to  time,  as  their  relatives  die,  the  first  joints  of  their  fingers 
and  toes,  especially  including  their  nails,  a  small  clipping 
from  a  lobe  of  the  ear,  and  perhaps  snippings  of  hair  are 
added  to  it.  But  the  chief  constituents  are  the  finger  ends. 
Nothing  is  taken  from  any  internal  organ  of  the  body,  as  in 
the  composition  of  other  fetiches.  This  form  descends  by 
inheritance  with  the  family.  In  its  honor  is  sacredly  kept 
a  bundle  of  toes,  fingers,  or  other  bones,  nail  clippings,  eyes, 
brains,  etc.,  accumulated  from  deceased  members  of  succes- 
sive generations.     This  is  distinctly  an  ancestor  worship. 

"The  worship  of  ancestors  is  a  marked  and  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  the  religious  system  of  Southern  Africa. 
This  is  something  more  definite  and  intelligible  than  the  re- 
ligious ceremonies  performed  in  connection  with  the  other 
classes  of  spirits."^ 

What  was  described  by  Dr.  Wilson  as  respect  for  the  aged 
among  the  tribes  of  Southern  Guinea  forty  years  ago,  is  true 
still,  in  a  large  measure,  even  where  foreign  customs  and 
examples  of  foreign  traders  and  the  practices  of  foreign 
governments  have  broken  down  native  etiquette  and  native 
patriarchal  government.  "Perhaps  there  is  no  part  of  the 
world  where  respect  and  veneration  for  age  are  carried  to  a 
greater  length  than  among  this  people.  For  those  who  are 
in  office,  and  who  have  been  successful  in  trade  or  in  war, 
or  in  any  other  way  have  rendered  themselves  distinguished 
among  their  fellow-men,  this  respect,  in  some  outward  forms 
at  least,  amounts  almost  to  adoration,  and  proportionately  so 
when  the  person  has  attained  advanced  age.  All  the 
younger  members  of  society  are  early  trained  to  show  the  ut- 
most deference  to  age.     They  must  never  come  into  the  pres- 

1  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  p.  393.  2  jbid. 


160  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

ence  of  aged  persons  or  pass  by  their  dwellings  without  taking 
off  their  hats  and  assuming  a  crouching  gait.  When  seated 
in  their  presence,  it  must  always  be  at  a  '  respectful  dis- 
tance,' —  a  distance  proportioned  to  the  difference  in  their 
ages  and  position  in  society.  If  they  come  near  enough  to 
hand  an  aged  man  a  lighted  pipe  or  a  glass  of  water,  the 
bearer  must  always  fall  upon  one  knee.  Aged  persons  must 
alwa3^s  he  addressed  as  '  father '  (rera,  lale,  paia)  or  '  mother  ' 
(ngwe,  ina).  Any  disrespectful  deportment  or  reproachful 
language  toward  such  persons  is  regarded  as  a  misdemeanor 
of  no  ordinary  aggravation.  A  youthful  person  carefully 
avoids  communicating  any  disagreeable  intelligence  to  such 
persons,  and  almost  always  addresses  them  in  terms  of  flattery 
and  adulation.  And  there  is  nothing  which  a  young  person 
so  much  deprecates  as  the  curse  of  an  aged  person,  and  es- 
pecially that  of  a  revered  father." 

The  value  of  the  Yaka  seems  to  lie  in  a  combination  of 
whatever  powers  were  possessed  during  their  life  by  the  dead, 
portions  of  whose  bodies  are  contained  in  it.  But  even  these 
are  of  use  apparently  only  as  an  actual  "medicine,"  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  medicine  depending  on  the  spirits  of  the  family 
dead  being  associated  with  those  portions  of  their  bodies. 
This  efficiency  is  called  into  action  by  prayer,  and  by  the  in- 
cantations of  the  doctor. 

"  In  some  cases  all  the  bones  of  a  beloved  father  or  mother, 
having  been  dried,  are  kept  in  a  wooden  chest,  for  which  a 
small  house  is  provided,  where  the  son  or  daughter  goes 
statedly  to  hold  communication  with  their  spirits.  They  do 
not  pretend  to  have  any  audible  responses  from  them,  but  it 
is  a  relief  to  their  minds  in  their  more  serious  moods  to  go 
and  pour  out  all  the  sorrows  of  their  hearts  in  the  ear  of  a 
revered  parent. 

"This  belief,  however  much  of  superstition  it  involves, 
exerts  a  very  powerful  influence  upon  the  social  character  of 
the  people.  It  establishes  a  bond  of  affection  between  the 
parent  and  child  much  stronger  than  could  be  expected 
among  a  people  wholly  given  up  to  heathenism.     It  teaches 


RELATION  TO   THE    FAMILY  161 

the  chikl  to  look  up  to  the  parent,  not  only  as  its  earthly  pro- 
tector, but  as  a  friend  in  the  spirit  land.  It  strengthens  the 
bonds  of  filial  affection,  and  keeps  up  a  lively  impression  of 
a  future  state  of  being.  The  living  prize  the  aid  of  the  dead, 
and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  send  messages  to  them  by  some 
one  who  is  on  the  point  of  dying;  and  so  greatly  is  this  aid 
prized  by  the  living  that  I  have  known  an  aged  mother  to 
avoid  the  presence  of  her  sons,  lest  she  should  by  some  secret 
means  be  despatched  prematurely  to  the  spirit  world,  for  the 
double  purpose  of  easing  them  of  the  burden  of  taking  care 
of  her,  and  securing  for  themselves  more  effective  aid  than 
she  could  render  them  in  this  world. 

"All  their  dreams  are  construed  into  visits  from  the  spirits 
of  their  deceased  friends.  The  cautions,  hints,  and  warnings 
which  come  to  them  through  this  source  are  received  with  the 
most  serious  and  deferential  attention,  and  are  always  acted 
upon  in  their  waking  hours.  The  habit  of  relating  their 
dreams,  which  is  universal,  greatly  promotes  the  habit  of 
dreaming  itself,  and  hence  their  sleeping  hours  are  character- 
ized by  almost  as  much  intercourse  with  the  dead  as  their 
waking  hours  are  with  the  living.  This  is,  no  doubt,  one  of 
the  reasons  of  their  excessive  superstitiousness.  Their  imagi- 
nations become  so  lively  that  they  can  scarcely  distinguish 
between  their  dreams  and  their  waking  thoughts,  between  the 
real  and  the  ideal,  and  they  consequently  utter  falsehood 
without  intending,  and  profess  to  see  things  which  never 
existed."  ^ 

All  that  is  quoted  above  from  Dr.  Wilson  is  still  true 
among  tribes  not  touched  by  civilization.  What  he  relates 
of  the  love  of  children  for  parents  and  the  desire  to  communi- 
cate with  their  departed  spirits  is  particularly  true  of  the 
children  of  men  and  women  who  have  held  honorable  posi- 
tion in  the  community  while  they  were  living.  And  it  is 
also  all  consistent  with  what  I  have  described  of  the  fear 
with  which  the  dead  are  regarded,  and  the  dread  lest  they 
should  revenge  some  injury  done  them  in  life.     The  common 

1  Wilson,  Western  Africa. 
11 


162  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

people,  and  those  who  have  neglected  their  friends  in  any 
wa}',  are  the  ones  who  dread  this.  The  better  classes,  espe- 
cially of  the  superior  tribes,  hold  their  dead  in  affectionate 
remembrance. 

I  have  met  with  instances  of  the  preservation  of  a  parent's 
brains  for  fetich  purposes,  as  mentioned  above  by  Dr.  Wilson. 
As  honored  guest,  I  have  been  given  the  best  room  in  which 
to  sleep  overnight.  On  a  flat  stone,  in  a  corner  of  the  room? 
was  a  pile  of  grayish  substance;  it  was  chalk  mixed  with  the 
decomposed  brain-matter  that  had  dripped  on  it  from  the 
skull  that  formerly  had  been  suspended  above.  I  then  re- 
membered how,  on  visiting  chiefs  in  their  villages,  they 
frequently  were  not  in  the  public  reception-room  on  my 
arrival,  but  I  was  kept  awaiting  them.  They  had  been 
apprised  of  the  white  man's  approach,  had  retired  to  their 
bedrooms,  and  when  they  reapj^eared,  it  was  with  their  fore- 
heads, and  sometimes  other  parts  of  their  bodies,  marked 
with  that  grayish  mixture.  The  objects  to  be  attained  were 
wisdom  and  success  in  any  question  of  diplomacy  or  in  a 
favor  they  might  be  asking  of  the  white  man. 

Around  the  doctor  and  his  power  is  always  a  cloak  of  mys- 
tery which  I  have  not  been  able  to  solve  entirely,  and  of 
which  the  natives  themselves  do  not  seem  to  have  a  clear  un- 
derstanding. The  other  factors  in  their  fetich  worship  have 
to  them  a  degree  of  clearness  sufficient  to  make  them  able  to 
give  an  intelligible  explanation.  It  is  plain,  for  instance, 
that  the  component  parts  of  any  fetich  are  looked  upon  by 
them  as  we  look  upon  the  drugs  of  our  materia  medica.  It 
is  plain,  also,  that  these  "  drugs  "  are  operative,  not  as  ours, 
by  certain  inherent  chemical  qualities,  but  by  the  presence 
of  a  spirit  to  whom  they  are  favorite  media.  And  it  is  also 
clear  that  this  spirit  is  induced  to  act  by  the  pleasing  en- 
chantments of  the  magic  doctor.  But  beyond  this,  what? 
Whence  does  the  doctor  get  his  influence  ?  What  is  there  in 
his  prayer  or  incantation  greater  than  the  prayer  or  drum  or 
song  or  magic  mirror  of  any  other  person?  For,  admit- 
tedly,   he   himself   is   subject   to   the   spirits,    and   may    be 


RELATION   TO   THE   FAMILY  163 

thwarted  by  some  other  more  powerful  spirit  which  for  the 
time  being  is  operated  b}^  some  other  doctor;  or  he  may 
be  killed  by  the  very  spirit  he  is  manipulating,  if  he  should 
incur  its  displeasure. 

Belief  in  the  necessity  of  having  the  doctor  is  implicit, 
while  the  explanation  of  his  modiLs  operandi  is  vague,  and 
he  is  feared  lest  he  employ  his  utilized  spirit  for  revenge 
or  other  harmful  purpose.  A  patient  and  his  relatives  who 
call  in  the  services  of  a  doctor  are  therefore  careful  to  obey 
him,  and  avoid  offending  him  in  any  way. 

The  Yaka  is  appealed  to  in  family  emergencies.  Suppose, 
for  instance,  that  one  member  has  secretly  done  something 
wrong,  e.  g.,  alone  in  the  forest,  he  has  met  and  killed  a 
member  of  another  family,  devastated  a  neighbor's  plantation, 
or  committed  any  other  crime,  and  is  unknown  to  the  com- 
munity as  the  offender.  But  the  powerful  Yaka  of  the 
injured  family  has  brought  disease  or  death,  or  some  other 
affliction,  on  the  offender's  family.  They  are  dying  or  other- 
wise suffering,  and  they  do  not  know  the  reason  why.  After 
the  failure  of  ordinary  medicines  or  personal  fetiches  to  re- 
lieve or  heal  or  prevent  the  continuance  of  the  evil,  the 
hidden  Yaka  is  brought  out  by  the  chiefs  of  the  offender's 
family.  A  doctor  is  called  in  consultation;  the  Yaka  is  to 
be  opened,  and  its  ancestral  relic  contents  appealed  to.  At 
this  point  the  fears  of  the  offender  overcome  him,  and  he 
privately  calls  aside  the  doctor  and  the  older  members  of  the 
clan.  He  takes  them  to  a  quiet  spot  in  the  forest  and  con- 
fesses what  he  has  done,  taking  them  to  the  garden  he  had 
devastated,  or  to  the  spot  where  he  had  hidden  the  remains 
of  the  person  he  had  killed.  If  tliis  confession  were  made  to 
the  public,  so  that  the  injured  family  became  aware  of  it,  his 
own  life  would  be  at  stake.  But  making  it  to  his  Yaka,  and 
to  only  the  doctor  and  chosen  representatives  of  his  family, 
they  are  bound  to  keep  his  secret;  the  doctor  on  professional 
grounds,  and  his  relatives  on  the  grounds  of  family  solidarity. 
The  problem,  then,  is  for  the  doctor  to  make  what  seems  like 
an  expiation.     The  explanation  of   this,  as  made  to  me,  is 


164  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

vague.  I  am  uncertain  whether  the  Yaka  of  the  injured 
family  is  to  be  appeased  or  the  offender's  own  Yaka  aroused 
from  dormant  inaction  to  efficient  protection,  or  both.  The 
Yaka  bundle  is  solemnly  opened  by  the  doctor  in  the  presence 
of  the  family;  a  little  of  the  dust  of  its  foul  contents  is  rubbed 
on  the  foreheads  of  the  members  present;  a  goat  or  sheep  is 
killed,  and  its  blood  sprinkled  on  them,  the  while  they  are 
praying  audibly  to  the  combined  ancestor-power  in  the  Yaka. 
These  prayers  are  continued  all  the  while  the  doctor,  who 
makes  his  incantations  long  and  varied,  is  acting.  The  sanc- 
tifying red-wood  powder  ointment  is  rubbed  over  their  bodies, 
and  the  Yaka  spirit  having  eaten  the  life  essence  of  the  sacri- 
ficed animal,  its  flesh  is  eaten  by  the  doctor  and  the  family. 
The  Yaka  bundle  is  tied  up  again,  and  again  is  hidden 
away  in  one  of  their  huts,  care  being  taken  to  add  to  it  from 
the  body  of  the  member  who  next  dies.  The  curse  that 
had  fallen  on  them  is  supposed  to  be  wiped  out,  and  the 
affliction  under  which  they  were  lying  is  believed  to  be 
removed. 

Recently  (1901)  a  Mpongwe  man  had  gone  as  a  trader  into 
the  Batanga  interior.  He  was  sick  at  the  time  of  his  going, 
one  of  his  legs  being  swollen  with  an  edematous  affection, 
so  much  so  that  people  in  the  interior,  natives  of  that  part 
of  the  country,  and  fellow- traders,  wondered  that  he  should 
travel  so  far  from  his  home  in  that  condition.  He  said  he 
was  seeking  among  different  tribes  for  the  cure  he  had  failed 
to  obtain  in  his  own  tribe.  Later  on,  he  died.  He  happened 
to  die  alone,  while  others  who  lived  with  him,  one  of  them 
a  relative,  were  temporarily  out  of  the  house.  The  sudden- 
ness of  the  death  aroused  the  superstitious  beliefs  of  the 
relative,  and  he  rushed  to  the  conclusion  that  it  had  been 
caused  by  black  art  machinations  of  some  enemy.  But  of  the 
whereabouts  or  the  personality  of  that  enemy  he  had  not 
even  a  suspicion.  He  cut  from  the  dead  man's  body  the 
first  joints  of  his  fingers  and  all  the  toe-nails,  put  them  in 
the  hollow  of  a  horn,  and  closed  its  opening,  intending  to 
add  its  contents  to  his  family  Yaka  when  he  should  return 


RELATION   TO   THE    FAMILY  1G5 

to  Gabiin.  Then  he  waved  the  horn  to  and  fro  toward  the 
spirits  of  the  air,  hekl  it  above  his  head,  and  struck  it  on  the 
back  of  his  own  neck,  uttering  at  the  same  time  an  impreca- 
tion that  as  his  relative  had  died,  so  might  die  that  very  day, 
even  as  he  had  died,  the  unknown  enemy  who  had  caused 
his  death. 

There  is  another  family  "medicine,"  still  used  in  some 
tribes,  that  was  formerly  held  in  reverence  by  the  Banaka 
and  Bapuku  tribes  of  the  Batanga  country  of  the  German 
Kamerun  colony.  It  was  called  "  Malanda. "  For  description 
of  it  see  Chapter  XVI. 

Another  medicine  similar  to  the  YakS,  in  its  family  in- 
terest is  called  by  the  Balimba  people  living  north  of  Batanga, 
"Ekongi."  The  following  statement  is  made  to  me  by  intel- 
ligent Batanga  people  who  know  tlie  parties,  and  who  believe 
that  what  they  report  actually  occurred. 

At  Balimba,  in  the  German  Kamerun  territory,  lived  a 
man,  by  name  Elesa.  He  possessed  a  little  bundle  contain- 
ing powerful  fetich  medicines,  so  compounded  that  they 
constituted  the  kind  of  charm  known  as  Ekongi.  Like 
Aladdin's  lamp,  and  almost  as  powerful,  it  warned  him  of 
danger,  helped  him  in  all  his  wishes,  assisted  him  in  his 
emergencies,  and  when  he  was  away  from  it,  as  it  was 
hidden  in  one  of  his  chests  in  his  house,  caused  him  to  be 
able  to  see  and  hear  anythiug  that  was  plotted  against 
him.  Only  he  could  handle  it  aright;  no  one  else  would 
be  able  to  manage  it. 

A  brother-in-law  of  Elesa,  husband  of  his  sister,  knew  of 
,this  Ekongi,  and  asked  Elesa  to  loan  it  to  him  in  order  that 
he  also  might  be  successful  in  some  of  his  projects. 

Now,  the  peculiarity  of  the  Ekongi  medicine  is  that  it 
acts  for  and  assists  only  the  family  of  the  person  who  owns 
it.  Elesa  refused  his  brother-in-law,  telling  him  that  as  they 
did  not  belong  to  the  same  family,  he  would  not  know  what 
to  do  with  a  strange  Ekongi,  nor  would  Ekongi  be  willing  to 
answer  a  stranger. 

The  brother-in-law  knew  perfectly  well  that  this  was  the 


166  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

manner  of  all  Ekongi  medicine ;  but  he  was  so  covetous  and 
so  foolishly  determined  that  he  hoped  that  in  some  way  this 
Ekongi  might  be  of  use  to  him  if  only  he  could  possess 
himself  of  it. 

One  day  Elesa  went  off  into  the  forest  on  a  hunting  trip, 
leaving  his  Ekongi  safely  locked  in  a  chest  in  his  house. 
The  brother-in-law  obtained  a  number  of  keys,  and  going 
secretly  to  Elesa's  house,  tried  them  on  the  various  chests 
stored  in  the  back  room.  Finally  a  key  fitted,  and  a  lock 
turned.  Suddenly  the  lid  flew  up,  and  out  of  the  now 
opened  chest  jumped  the  little  Ekongi  bundle,  followed  by 
all  the  goods  that  had  been  packed  in  the  chest;  and  these 
spread  themselves  at  his  feet,  —  yards  of  cloth,  and  hats,  and 
shirts,  and  coats,  and  a  multitude  of  smaller  articles.  He 
rejoiced  at  the  success  of  his  effort.  His  covetousness  over- 
came him.  He  said  to  himself  that  he  would  put  back  Ekongi 
into  the  chest,  would  lock  it,  gather  up  all  this  wealth  and 
carry  it  away;  and  no  one  would  see  them,  or  know  that  the 
chest  had  been  opened  by  him. 

He  started  to  step  forward,  but  his  feet  were  held  fast  by 
some  invisible  power.  He  tried  to  stoop  down  to  lay  hold  of 
some  of  the  goods  within  reach,  but  his  arms  and  back  were 
held  fast  and  stiff  by  the  same  invisible  power.  And  he 
realized  that  he  was  a  prisoner  in  Ekongi 's  hands. 

Off  in  the  forest  Elesa,  in  his  chase,  was  enabled  by  his 
Ekongi  to  see  and  know  what  was  going  on  in  his  house. 
He  saw  his  brother-in-law's  attempt  at  theft,  and  that  his 
unlawful  eyes  had  looked  on  the  sacred  Ekongi.  He  aban- 
doned the  chase  that  day,  and  came  back  in  great  anger  to 
his  house.  There  was  his  brother-in-law  rooted  to  the  spot 
on  which  he  stood,  the  chest  open  and  empty,  and  the  goods 
scattered  on  the  floor. 

Elesa  controlled  his  anger,  and  at  first  said  nothing.  He 
quietly  took  a  chair  from  the  room  out  into  the  street  and  sat 
down  on  it,  opposite  to  the  doorway,  as  if  on  guard.  Then 
he  spoke:  "So!  now!  You  have  looked  on  my  Ekongi! 
And  you  have  tried  to  steal!     I  will  not  speak  of  the  shame- 


RELATION   TO    THE    FAMILY  167 

ful  thing  of  stealing  from  a  relative. ^  That  is  a  little  thing 
compared  with  the  sin  you  have  done  of  looking  on  what  was 
not  lawful  for  your  eyes.  We  are  of  different  families.  I 
will  punish  you  by  taking  away  my  sister,  your  wife.  You 
shall  stand  there  until  you  agree  to  deliver  up  your  wife,  and 
also  an  amount  of  goods  equal  to  what  you  paid  for  her." 
The  brother-in-law  began  to  plead  against  the  hard  terms,  and 
offered  to  put  his  father  into  Elesa's  hand  instead  of  the  wife. 
But  Elesa  insisted. 

The  brother-in-law's  father,  at  a  distant  village,  possessed 
also  his  own  family  Ekongi,  which  enabled  him  to  see  and 
know  what  was  being  said  and  done  at  Elesa's  house.  He 
was  angry  at  the  hard  terms  demanded ;  according  to 
native  view,  he  would  defend  any  one  of  his  family,  even  if 
he  were  in  the  wrong.  A  native  eye  does  not  look  at  es- 
sential wrong  or  right;  it  looks  at  family  interest.  His  son's 
attempt  at  theft  did  not  disturb  him.  It  was  enough  that 
Elesa  had  seized  his  son  as  prisoner.  He  snatched  up  his 
spear,  and  hasted  away  to  quarrel  with  his  marriage  relative 
Elesa. 

On  reaching  the  house,  he  saw  his  son  still  standing  help- 
less, and  Elesa  seated,  still  pressing  his  hard  terms  on  him. 
The  father  said  to  Elesa,  "  You  are  not  doing  well  in  this 
matter.     Let  my  son  go  at  once !  " 

Elesa  refused,  saying,  "  He  wanted  that  which  was  sacred 
to  me.  He  has  looked  upon  it  and  has  desecrated  it.  I  will 
not  agree  that  the  angry  Ekongi  shall  let  him  go  free.  He 
shall  pay  his  ransom."  After  a  long  discussion  Elesa  changed 
his  terms,  and  demanded  a  money  substitute  of  one  thousand 
German  marks  in  silver  ($250).  The  father  also  receded  from 
his  demand  that  the  son  should  be  released  unconditionally. 
And  after  further  discussion  the  father,  having  saved  both 
his  son  and  himself  from  the  first  terms  of  the  ransom,  re- 
turned again  to  the  question  of  a  person  instead  of  mone}-, 
and  offered  his  daughter  in  marriage  instead  of   the  $250. 

1  To  a  native  African  that  is  a  much  greater  wrong  than  stealing  from  other 
people,  particularly  from  foreigners.  —  R.  H.  N. 


168  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Elesa  accepted.  He  picked  up  the  now  satisfied  Ekongi,  and 
put  it  back  into  the  chest;  and  all  the  scattered  goods  fol- 
lowed it,  drawn  by  its  power.  And  when  the  lid  was  again 
closed  down  and  locked,  the  brother-in-law  felt  his  limbs 
suddenly  released  from  constriction,  and  was  able  to  walk 
away. 

This  was  gravely  told  me  by  my  cook,  a  member  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church,  and  was  endorsed  by  a  woman  of 
my  own  church,   who  was  present  during  the  recital. 

My  friend  the  late  Miss  Mary  H.  Kingsley,  on  page  273  of 
her  "Travels  in  West  Africa,"  mentions  an  incident  which 
shows  that  she  had  discovered  one  of  these  Yaka  bundles, 
though   apparently  she   did   not  know  it   as  such  and   sus- 
pected it  to  be  a  relic  of  cannibalism.     It  is  true,  however, 
that  she   did  come  in  contact   with   cannibalism.     She  had 
been  given  lodging  in  a  room  of  a  house  in  a  Fang  village  in 
the  country  lying  between  the  Azyingo  branch  of  the  Ogowe 
River  and  the  Rembwe  branch  of  the  Gabun  River.     On  re- 
tiring at  night,  she  had  observed  some  small  bags  suspended 
from  the  wall.     "Waking  up  again,  I  noticed  the  smell  in 
the  hut  was  violent,  from  being  shut  up,  I  suppose,  and  it 
had  an  unmistakably  organic  origin.     Knocking  the  end  off 
the  smouldering  bush-light  that  lay  burning  on  the  floor,  I 
investigated,  and  tracked  it  to  those  bags;  so  I  took  down 
the  biggest  one,  and  carefully  noted  exactly  how  the  tie-tie 
(rattan  rope)   had   been   put   around   its  mouth;    for   these 
things  are  important,  and  often  mean  a  lot.     I  then  shook  its 
contents  out  in  my  hat  for  fear  of  losing  anything  of  value. 
They  were  a  human  hand,  three  big  toes,  four  eyes,  two  ears, 
and  other  portions  of  the  human  frame.     The  hand  was  fresh, 
the  others  only  so-so  and  shrivelled.     Replacing  them,  I  tied 
the  bag  up,  and  hung  it  up  again."     It  was  well  she  noticed 
a   peculiarity   in   the   tying    of  the    calamus-palm  string  or 
"tie-tie."     A  stranger   would    not  have    been   put  in    that 
room   of  whose  honesty  or  honor  there  was  doubt.      White 
visitors  are  implicitly  trusted  that  they  will  neither  steal  nor 
desecrate. 


RELATION   TO   THE   FAMILY  169 

Another  family  medicine  in  the  Batanga  region  is  known 
by  the  name  of  Mbati.  An  account  of  the  mode  of  its  use 
was  given  me  in  1902  by  a  Batanga  man,  as  occurring  in  his 
own  lifetime  with  his  own  father.  The  father  was  a  heathen 
and  a  polygamist,  having  several  wives,  by  each  of  whom  he 
had  children.  One  day  he  went  hunting  in  the  forest.  He 
observed  a  dark  object  crouching  among  the  cassava  bushes 
on  the  edge  of  a  plantation.  Assuming  that  it  was  a  wild 
beast  wasting  the  cassava  plants,  he  fired,  and  was  frightened 
by  a  woman's  outcry,  "  Oh !  I  am  killed !  "  She  was  his 
own  niece,  who  had  been  stooping  down,  hidden  among  the 
bushes  as  she  was  weeding  the  garden.  He  helped  her  to 
their  village,  where  she  died.  She  made  no  accusation.  The 
bloodshed  being  in  their  own  family,  no  restitution  was  re- 
quired, nor  any  investigation  made.  The  matter  would 
have  passed  without  further  comment  had  not,  within  a  year, 
a  number  of  his  young  children  died  in  succession;  and  it 
began  to  be  whispered  that  perhaps  the  murdered  woman's 
spirit  was  avenging  itself,  or  perhaps  some  other  family  was 
using  witchcraft  against  them.  A  general  council  of  adja- 
cent families  was  called.  After  discussion,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  other  families  were  without  blame ;  that  the  trouble 
rested  with  my  informant's  father's  family,  which  should 
settle  the  difficulty  as  they  saw  best,  by  inflicting  on  the  father 
some  punishment,  or  by  propitiation  being  made  by  the  entire 
family.  The  latter  was  decided  on  by  the  doctors.  They 
gathered  from  the  forest  a  quantity  of  barks  of  trees,  leaves 
of  parasitic  ferns,  which  were  boiled  in  a  very  large  kettle 
along  with  human  excrement,  and  a  certain  rare  variety  of 
plantain,  as  small  as  the  smallest  variety  of  banana.  To 
each  member  of  the  family  present,  old  and  young,  male  and 
female,  were  given  two  of  these  unripe  plantains.  The  rind 
does  not  readily  peel  off  from  unripe  plantains  and  bananas; 
a  knife  is  generally  used.  But  for  this  medicine  the  rinds 
were  to  be  picked  off  only  by  the  finger-nails  of  those  hand- 
ling them,  and  then  were  to  be  shredded  into  the  kettle  in 


170  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

small  pieces,  also  only  by  their  tinger-nails.  A  goat  or  sheep 
was  killed,  and  its  blood  also  mixed  in.  This  mess  was 
thoroughly  boiled.  Then  the  doctor  took  a  short  bush 
having  many  small  branches  (a  tradition  of  hyssop?),  and 
dipping  it  into  the  decoction,  frequently  and  thoroughly 
sprinkled  all  the  members  of  the  family,  saying,  "Let  the 
displeasure  of  the  spirit  for  the  death  of  that  woman,  or  any 
other  guilt  of  any  hidden  or  unknown  crime,  be  removed!  " 
The  liquid  portion  of  the  contents  of  the  kettle  having  been 
used  in  the  propitiatory  sprinkling,  the  more  solid  pottage- 
like debris  was  then  eaten  by  all  members  of  the  family,  as 
a  preventive  of  possible  danger.  And  the  rite  was  closed 
with  the  usual  drum,  dance,  and  song.  My  informant  told 
me  that  at  that  time,  and  taking  part  in  the  ceremonies,  was 
his  mother,  who  was  then  pregnant  with  him.  The  Mbati 
medicine  seems  to  have  been  considered  efficient,  for  he, 
the  seventh  child,  survived;  and  subsequently  three  others 
were  born.  The  previous  six  had  died.  Though  two  of 
those  three  have  since  died,  in  some  way  they  were  con- 
sidered to  have  died  by  Njambi  (Providence),  i.  g.,  a  natural 
death ;  for  it  is  not  unqualifiedly  true  that  all  tribes  of  Africa 
regard  all  deaths  as  caused  by  black  art.  There  are  some 
deaths  that  are  admitted  to  be  by  the  call  of  God,  and  for 
these  there  is  no  witchcraft  investigation. 

The  father  also  is  dead.  My  informant  and  one  sister  sur- 
vive. They  think  the  Mbati  "  medicine  "  was  satisfactory, 
notwithstanding  that  the  sister  believes  that  their  father  was 
secretly  poisoned  by  his  cousins,  they  being  jealous  of  his 
affluence  in  wives  and  children. 

The  last  step  in  the  Mbati  rite  is  the  transplanting  of  some 
plant.  A  suitable  hole  having  been  dug  at  one  end,  or  even 
in  the  middle  of  the  village  street,  each  person  takes  a  bulb 
of  lily  kind,  probably  a  crinum  or  an  amaryllis,  such  as  are 
common  on  the  rocky  edges  of  streams,  and  pressing  it  against 
their  backs  and  other  parts  of  their  body,  and  with  a  rhythmic 
swaying  of   their  bodies   plant  it   in  the   hole.     Thereafter 


RELATION  TO   THE   FAMILY  171 

these  plants  are  not  destroyed.  They  ai-e  guarded  from 
the  village  goats  by  a  small  enclosure,  and  should  at  any 
time  the  village  remove,  the  plants  are  also  removed  and 
replanted  on  the  new  site.  Such  plants  are  seen  in  almost 
every  village. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  FETICH  —  ITS  RELATIONS  TO  DAILY  WORK  AND 
OCCUPATIONS  AND  TO  THE  NEEDS  OF  LIFE 

IN  the  great  emergencies  of  life,  such  as  plagues,  famines, 
deaths,  funerals,  and  where  witchcraft  and  black  art 
are  suspected,  the  aid  or  intervention  of  special  fetiches  is 
invoked,  as  has  been  described  in  the  Yaka  and  other  public 
ceremonies.  The  ritual  required  in  such  cases  is  often  expen- 
sive, as  money  is  needed  for  the  doctor's  fee,  for  purchase 
of  ingredients  and  other  materials  for  the  "  medicine,"  and 
in  the  entertainment  of  the  assemblage  that  always  gather 
as  participants  or  spectators. 

There  is  also  loss  in  time,  little  as  the  native  African  values 
time,  and  slow  as  he  is  in  the  expedition  of  any  matter. 
Houses  that  should  be  erected  and  gardens  that  should  be 
planted  are  neglected  while  the  rite  to  be  performed  is  in 
hand.  It  may  require  even  a  month.  During  that  time 
either  the  favorable  season  for  building  or  planting  may  have 
passed,  or  the  work  has  only  partly  been  completed.  The 
division  of  the  seasons  into  two  rainy  (of  three  months  each) 
and  two  dry  (a  short  hot  and  a  long  cool)  make  it  desirable, 
as  in  the  temperate  zones,  for  certain  work  to  be  done  in 
certain  seasons. 

But  for  the  needs  of  life,  day  by  day,  with  its  routine  of 
occupations,  whose  outgoings  and  incomings  are  known  and 
expected,  the  Bantu  fetich  worshipper  depends  on  himself  and 
his  regular  fetich  charms,  which,  indeed,  were  made  either 
at  his  request  by  a  doctor  (as  we  would  order  a  suit  of 
clothes  from  a  tailor),  or  by  himself  on  fetich  rule  obtained 
from  a  doctor ;  and  when  paid  for,  the  doctor  is  no  long  •"■ 


THE   FETICH   IN   DAILY    LIFE  173 

needed  or  considered.  The  worshipper  keeps  these  amulets 
and  mixed  medicines  hanging  on  the  wall  of  his  room  or 
hidden  in  one  of  his  boxes.  But  he  gives  them  no  regular 
reverence  or  worship,  no  sacrilice  or  prayer,  until  such  times 
as  their  services  are  needed.  He  knows  that  the  utilized 
actual  spirits  (or  at  least  their  influence),  each  in  its  specific 
material  object,  is  safely  ensconced  and  is  only  waiting  the 
needs  of  its  owner  to  be  called  into  action. 

These  needs  come  day  by  day.  Almost  daily  some  one  in 
tlie  village  is  hunting,  warring,  trading,  love-making,  fishing, 
jtlanting,  or  journeying. 

For  Hunting.  The  hunter  or  hunters  start  out  each  with 
his  own  fetich  hanging  from  his  belt  or  suspended  from  his 
shoulder ;  or,  if  there  be  something  unusual,  even  if  it  be 
not  very  great,  in  the  hunt  about  to  be  engaged  in,  a  temporary 
charm  may  be  performed  by  the  doctor  or  even  by  the  hunters 
themselves.  This  is  the  more  likely  to  be  done  if  there  is  an 
organized  hunt  including  several  persons.  Such  ceremonies 
preliminary  to  the  chase  are  described  by  W.  H.  Brown  ^  as 
performed  by  an  old  witch-doctor  among  the  Mashona  tribe : 
"  P^'at  of  the  zebra,  eland,  and  other  game  was  mixed  with  dirt 
and  put  into  a  small  pot.  Then  some  live  coals  were  placed 
on  the  grease,  which  caused  it  to  burn,  so  that  clouds  of  thick 
smoke  arose.  The  huntsmen  sat  in  a  circle  around  the  pot, 
with  the  muzzles  of  their  old  flint-locks  and  cap-guns  sticking 
into  the  smoke.  In  unison  they  bent  over  and  took  a  smell 
of  the  fumes,  and  at  the  same  time  called  out  the  name  of  the 
'  medicine '  or  spirit  they  were  invoking,  which  was  Saru, 
saying  thus, '  Saru,  I  must  kill  game ;  I  must  kill  game,  Saru ! 
Now,  Saru,  I  must  kill  game  ! ' 

"  After  this  performance  was  finished,  each  of  the  candi- 
dates in  turn  sat  down  near  the  doctor,  to  be  personally 
operated  upon  by  him.  He  placed  a  bowl  of  medicated  water 
upon  the  huntsman's  head,  and  stirred  it  with  a  stick  while 
the  latter  repeated  the  names  of  all  the  kinds  of  game  he 
wished  to  kill.    This  was  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  the  hunt 

1  On  the  South  African  Frontier,  p.  214. 


174  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

was  to  be  successful.  If  any  of  the  water  splashed  out  and 
ran  down  over  the  patient's  head  and  face,  success  was  assured. 
If  not  a  drop  had  left  the  bowl,  then  the  huntsman  might  as 
well  have  laid  aside  his  gun  and  assegai,  for  his  efforts  would 
have  been  doomed  to  failure." 

Among  the  Matabele  of  Southeast  Africa,  "  when  they  are 
about  to  start  for  the  chase,  they  arrange  themselves  in  a 
circle  at  sunset,  and  the  doctor  comes  with  the  bark  of  a  tree 
filled  with  medicine,  and  with  his  finger  marks  the  chiefs  on 
the  forehead,  in  order  to  give  them  authority  over  the  animals." 

For  Journeying.  No  journey  of  importance  is  made  without 
preparation  of  a  fetich,  to  which  more  forethought  and  time 
and  care  are  given  than  to  the  preparation  of  food,  clothing, 
etc.,  for  the  way.  Arnot  ^  describes  the  process  :  "  On  behalf 
of  a  caravan  to  start  for  Bihe,  Msidi  and  his  fetich  priests 
have  been  at  work  a  whole  month,  preparing  charms  and  so 
forth.  The  process  in  such  a  case  is  first  to  divine  as  to  the 
dangers  tliat  await  them ;  then  to  propitiate  with  the  appointed 
sacrifices  to  forefathers  (in  this  case  two  goats  were  killed)  ; 
afterwards  to  prepare  the  charms  necessary  either  as  anti- 
dotes against  evil  or  to  secure  good.  The  noma  or  fetich 
spear  to  be  carried  in  front  of  the  caravan,  with  charms 
secured  to  it,  was  thus  prepared.  The  roots  of  a  sweet  herb 
were  tied  around  the  blade  ;  then  a  few  bent  splinters  of  wood 
were  tied  on,  like  the  feathers  of  a  shuttle-cock.  In  the  cage 
thus  formed,  there  were  placed  a  piece  of  human  skin,  little 
bits  of  the  claws  of  a  lion,  leopard,  and  so  forth,  with  food, 
beer,  and  medical  roots;  thus  securing,  respectively,  power 
over  their  enemies,  safety  from  the  paws  of  fierce  animals, 
food  and  drink,  and  finally  health.  A  cloth  was  sewn  over 
all,  and  finally  the  king  spat  on  it  and  blessed  it.  After  all 
these  performances  they  set  out  with  light  hearts,  each  man 
marked  with  sacred  chalk." 

"  Before  starting  on  a  journey  a  man  will  spend  perhaps  a 
fortnight  in  preparing  charms  to  overcome  evils  by  the  way 
and  to  enable  him  to  destroy  his  enemies.  If  he  is  a  trader, 
1  Garenganze,  p.  207. 


THE    FETICH   IN   DAILY   LIFE  175 

he  desires  to  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  chiefs  and  a  liberal  price 
for  his  goods." 

For  Warring.  So  implicit  is  African  faith  in  signs,  charms, 
and  auspices,  that  when  tlie  sign  before  going  into  war 
is  inauspicious,  the  natives'  hopelessness  of  success  sometimes 
makes  them  seem  almost  cowardly.  Among  the  people  of 
Garenganze  in  Southeast  Africa,  "  when  the  chiefs  meet  in 
war,  victory  does  not  depend  on  merely  strength  and  courage, 
as  we  should  suppose,  but  on  fetich  '  medicines.'  If  some 
men  on  the  side  of  the  more  powerful  chief  fall,  they  at 
once  retire  and  acknowledge  that  their  medicines  have  failed, 
and  they  cannot  be  induced  to  renew  the  conflict  on  any 
consideration."  ^ 

Among  the  Matabele,  "  before  a  war  the  doctors  concoct 
a  special  medicine,  and  taking  some  of  the  froth  from  it,  mark 
with  it  the  forehead  of  those  who  have  ali-eady  killed  a  man." 
A  native  of  Batanga  recently  described  to  me  the  war-fetich 
as  formerly  prepared  by  his  people.  The  medicine  for  it  is 
arranged  for  thus.  A  house  is  built  at  least  several  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  village.  There  will  be  present  no  one  but 
the  doctor,  who  eats  and  sleeps  there  while  he  is  arranging  with 
the  spirits  and  deciding  on  the  medicine.  After  two  days  he 
tells  the  people  that  he  has  finished  it,  that  his  preparations 
are  ready,  and  that  they  must  assemble  at  his  house.  He  tells 
them  to  bring  with  them  a  certain  shaped  spear  with  prongs. 
Men  have  already  gathered  in  the  village,  to  the  number  of 
several  hundred,  waiting  for  the  war.  The  doctor  chooses  from 
among  them  some  man  whom  he  sends  to  the  forest  to  get 
a  certain  ingredient,  a  red  amomum  pod.  (It  contains  the 
"  Guinea  grains,"  or  Malaguetta  pepper,  which  taste  like  car- 
damom seeds,  which  a  centuiy  ago  were  so  highly  valued  in 
Europe  that  only  the  rich  could  buy  them.)  Then  the  doctor 
and  the  man,  leaving  the  crowd,  go  together  to  the  forest 
with  knife  and  machete  and  basket.  They  may  have  to  go 
several  miles  in  order  to  find  a  tree  called  "  unyongo-mua- 
ele."     The  doctor  holds   the  chewed  amomum  seeds  in  his 

1  Arnot. 


176  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

mouth,  and  blows  them  out  against  the  tree,  saying,  "  Pha-a-a! 
The  sfun  shots !  Let  them  not  touch  me ! "  The  assistant 
holds  the  basket  while  the  doctor  climbs  the  tree  and  rubs  off 
pieces  of  loose  bark  which  are  caught  in  the  basket  as  they 
fall.  They  then  go  on  into  the  forest  to  find  another  tree 
named  "  kota."  There  he  blows  the  chewed  seeds  in  the  same 
way  saying  the  same,  —  "  Pha-a-a  !  Thou  tree  !  Let  not  the 
bullets  hit  me  !  "  And  the  assistant,  with  basket  standing  be- 
low, catches  the  bark  scraped  down  as  the  doctor  climbs  this 
tree. 

They  return  to  the  village  and  enter  the  doctor's  house. 
No  women  or  children  may  enter  the  house  or  be  present  at 
the  ceremonies.  The  men  bring  into  the  house  a  very  big 
iron  pot,  and  the  doctor  sa3^s,  "  This  is  what  is  to  contain 
all  the  ingredients  of  the  medicine."  Then  the  doctor,  with 
two  other  men,  takes  that  spear  by  niglit,  leaving  all  the 
other  men  to  occupy  themselves  with  songs  of  war,  while  the 
townspeople  are  asleep ;  they  go  to  the  grave  of  some  man 
who  has  recently  died.  They  dig  open  the  grave,  and  force 
off  the  lid  of  the  coffin.  The  doctor  thrusts  the  spear  down 
into  the  coffin  into  the  head  of  the  corpse.  He  twirls  the  spear 
about  in  the  skull,  so  as  to  get  a  firm  grip  on  it  with  the  prongs 
of  the  spear.  He  changes  his  voice,  and  speaking  in  a  hoarse 
guttural  manner  says,  "  Thou  corpse !  Do  not  let  any  one 
hear  what  I  say  !  And  do  not  thou  injure  me  for  doing  this  to 
you  !  "  When  the  spear  is  well  thrust  into  the  skuU,  he  stoops 
into  the  grave,  and  with  a  machete  cuts  off  the  head.  He  goes 
away  carrying  the  head  on  the  spear-point.  AVhile  doing  all 
this,  he  wears  not  the  slightest  particle  of  clothing.  They. go 
back  to  the  village  to  the  doctor's  house ;  and  there  they 
catch  a  cock,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  crowd  the  doctor 
twists  (not  cuts)  off  its  head.  The  blood  of  the  cock  is  caught 
in  a  large  fresh  leaf.  He  takes  the  fowl  to  the  big  pot,  and 
lets  some  of  its  blood  drip  into  it.  The  head  of  the  corpse  is 
also  put  into  the  pot,  with  water,  and  all  the  other  ingredi- 
ents, including  the  spear.  The  bullets  of  the  doctor's  gun  are 
also  to  go  into  the  pot,  which  is  then  set  over  a  fire. 


THE   P^ETICH    IN   DAILY   LIFE  177 

After  the  water  lias  hoiliMl  the  doctor  takes  a  furry  skin  of 
a  bush-cat,  and  all  the  hundreds  of  men  stand  on  one  side  in 
a  line.  He  dips  the  skin  into  the  pot,  and  shakes  it  over  them. 
As  he  thus  sprinkles  them,  he  lays  on  them  a  prohibition, 
thus  :  "  All  ye  !  this  month,  go  ye  not  near  your  wives  !  "  All 
that  month  is  spent  by  them  practising  war  songs  and  dances. 

Tlien  the  doctor  takes  the  blood  that  was  collected  on  the 
leaf,  and  mixes  it  with  powdered  red- wood.  This  mixture  is 
tied  up  with  the  human  head  in  a  flying-squirrel's  skin.  He 
haugs  this  bundle  up  in  the  house  over  the  place  where  he 
sits.  The  body  of  the  fowl  next  day  is  torn  in  pieces,  not 
cut  with  a  knife,  and  [)laced  in  a  small  earthen  pot  with  njabi 
oil  (the  oil  of  a  large  pulpy  forest  fruit),  and  Uganda  (gourd) 
seeds.  An  entire  fresh  plantain  bunch  is  cut,  and  successive 
squads  of  the  men  peel  each  man  his  small  piece  with  his 
finger-nails.  These  also  they  shred  with  their  nails,  part  into 
the  pot,  and  part  on  a  plantain  leaf,  as  the  pot  is  small,  and 
all  the  pieces  will  be  added  as  the  contents  of  the  pot  are 
gradually  reduced.  The  doctor  himself  lifts  the  pot  from  the 
fire,  and  first  eats  of  the  mess,  and  then  gives  each  of  the  men, 
with  his  hand,  a  small  share. 

When  all  have  finished  eating,  he  opens  the  bundle  that 
had  been  tied  in  the  squirrel  skin,  and  with  the  fibrous 
inner  bark  of  a  tree,  kimbwa-mbenje  (from  which  formerly 
was  made  the  native  bark-cloth),  sponges  the  red  rotten 
stuff  on  their  breasts,  saying,  "  Let  no  bullet  come  here !  " 
Then,  led  by  the  doctor,  they  march  in  procession  to  the 
town.  There  he  tells  the  people  of  the  town  to  try  to  shoot 
him,  explaining  that  he  does  not  wish  any  one  to  be  in  doubt 
of  the  efficacy  of  the  charm.  As  he  leads  the  procession,  he 
holds  the  bundle  in  his  hand,  shouting,  "  Budu  !  hah  I  hah! 
Budu  !  hah  !  hah  !  "  The  "  hah  "  is  uttered  with  a  bold  aspi- 
ration. This  is  to  embolden  his  followers.  ("  Budu  !  hah  I  " 
does  not  mean  anything :  it  is  only  a  yell.)  The  people  are 
terrified,  though  he  is  still  shouting  to  them  to  fire  at  him. 
He  is  safe ;  for  he  leads  the  procession  to  where  is  sta- 
tioned a  confederate,  who  does  fire  at  him  point  blank  from  a 

12 


178  FETICHISM   IN  WEST   AFRICA 

gun  from  which  the  bullets  have  been  removed.  It  is  a  tri- 
umph for  him !  The  crowd  see  that  not  only  he  does  not  fall 
dead,  but  lie  is  not  even  wounded !  'I'he  charm  has  turned 
aside  the  bullets ! 

The  townspeople  are  then  invited  to  join  tlie  procession. 
They  stand  up  with  the  doctor  and  his  crowd,  and  dance  the 
war-dance.  When  the  dancing  is  ended,  he  takes  the  bundle 
and  anoints  all  the  townspeople,  even  the  women  and  chil- 
dren. And  the  men  go  to  their  war,  sure  of  victory.  But 
tlie  doctor  himself  does  not  go ;  he  remains  safely  behind, 
saying  that  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  watch  the  bundle  in  his 
house.  Defeat  in  the  war  is  easily  explained  by  saying  that 
some  one  in  the  crowd  had  spoiled  the  charm  by  not  obeying 
some  item  in  the  ritual. 

For  Trading.  One  method  is  described  to  me  by  a  Batanga 
native  who  had  seen  it  used  by  a  certain  man  of  his  tribe. 
This  man  obtained  the  head  of  a  dead  person  who  had 
been  noted  for  his  intelligence.  This  he  kept  hidden  in 
his  house,  lying  in  a  white  basin.  To  assure  liimself  that  it 
should  be  seen  by  no  one  else,  he  built  a  small  hut  in  the 
behu  (kitchen-garden),  detached  from  his  dwelling,  and  into 
which  none  but  himself  and  wife  should  enter.  There  he 
kept  the  head  in  its  basin.  When  he  had  occasion  to  go  to 
a  white  man's  trading-house  to  ask  for  goods  or  any  other 
favor,  he  first  poured  water  into  this  basin,  mixed  it  with  the 
decomposed  brain  that  had  oozed  from  the  skull,  and  washed 
his  cheeks  in  this  dirty  water.  He  also  took  some  brain- 
matter,  mixed  it  with  palm-oil,  and  rubbed  it  over  his  hands. 
Then,  on  his  going  to  the  trading-house,  when  the  white  man 
shakes  hands  with  him  and  looks  on  his  face,  he  will  be  pleased 
and  generously  disposed,  and  will  grant  any  request  made. 

My  informant  told  me  that  when  he  was  a  lad  he  assisted 
his  father  in  using  another  method.  His  father  was  inti- 
mate with  white  men,  trading  extensively  with  them  in  ivory 
To  increase  his  credit,  he  set  out  to  make  a  new  fetich.  He 
called  the  son  to  accompany  him  to  the  forest,  and  handed 
him  a  basket  to  carr3^     They  searched  among  the  trees  until 


THE    FETICH   IN   DAILY   LIFE  170 

they  found  two  growing  near  togethei-,  but  Lent  in  such  a 
way  toward  each  other  that  their  trunks  crossed  in  contact, 
and  were  rubbed  smooth  by  abrasion ;  and  when  violently 
rubbing,  in  a  storm,  gave  out  a  creaking  sound.  In  that 
mysterious  sound  inhered  the  fetich  power.  He  chose  the 
trees,  not  for  any  value  in  their  kind,  but  because  of  their 
singular  juxtaposition  and  their  weird  sounds.  He  gathered 
bark  from  these  trees,  and  the  son  carried  the  basketful  back  to 
their  village.  The  father  fixed  the  time  of  arrival  and  point 
of  entrance  so  that  they  should  not  be  seen  as  they  came  to 
their  house.  He  then  went  out  to  the  behu  (kitchen-gar- 
den) and  plucked  four  ripe  plantains  (mehole)  ;  and  gathered 
leaves  of  a  certain  tree,  by  name  "boka."  An  earthen  pot  con- 
taining water  and  pieces  of  the  twin-tree  bark  was  set  over 
the  fire,  and  into  the  pot  were  finely  sliced  the  mehole  and 
the  boka  leaves.  To  these  were  added  a  certain  kind  of  fish, 
by  name  "hume,"  a  bottle  of  palm-oil,  gourd  seeds,  and  ground- 
nuts. All  these  were  thoroughly  boiled  together.  When 
they  were  sufficiently  boiled,  he  lifted  off  the  pot  from  the 
fire,  not  by  his  hands,  but  by  clasping  its  hot  sides  with  his 
feet,  as  he  sat  on  a  low  stool,  and  placed  it  on  the  ground. 
Sitting  by  it,  he  held  his  face  over  it,  with  a  cloth  thrown 
over  his  head,  thus  inhaling  the  steam.  He  remained  in  this 
steam  bath  for  about  an  hour. 

At  food  time  he  cut  two  pieces  of  leaves  from  plantains, 
spread  them  on  the  ground  and  sat  on  them,  and  ate  the  mess 
that  was  in  the  pot.  While  eating,  he  uttered  into  the  pot 
adjurations,  e.  g.,  "Let  no  one,  not  even  a  Mabeya  tribesman, 
hinder  me  from  the  white  man's  good-will !  When  I  go  some 
day  to  make  my  request  to  the  white  man,  let  him  grant  it ! " 
When  he  had  finished  eating,  he  told  his  son  to  carry  the  pot 
into  an  inner  room  and  deposit  it  in  a  large  box,  which  the 
father  opened  for  that  purpose.  The  pot  was  not  washed ;  it 
still  contained  the  remains  of  the  pottage.  He  told  his  son  to 
reveal  to  no  one  what  they  had  done. 

That  very  day  he  heard  that  his  trade  friend  in  the  adjacent 
inferior  Mabeya  tribe  had  obtained  an  ivory  tusk   for  him. 


180  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

He  at  once  started  out  alone  to  meet  Iiis  friend  on  the  M^ay, 
so  as  to  be  sure  that  it  wouhl  not  be  carried  to  some  one  else; 
but  not  as  on  other  ordinary  journeys.  He  was  to  look 
neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left  (as  if  watchful  of  possibly 
ambushed  enemies),  nor  to  look  back,  even  if  called  by  name ; 
but  with  eye  straightforward,  to  walk  steadily  to  the  goal. 
Before  starting,  he  had  rubbed  some  of  the  pottage  mess  on 
his  hand  and  tongue.  On  reaching  the  Mabeya  village,  his 
friend  did  not  hesitate  or  haggle  about  the  price,  but  promptly 
told  him  to  take  the  tusk.  Before  selling  it  to  the  white 
trader,  he  scraped  some  ivory  flakes  from  the  outside  of  the 
tusk,  put  them  into  a  decanter  with  two  bottles  of  rum  (before 
foreign  liquor  was  known,  native  plantain  beer  was  used)  and 
pieces  of  the  twin-tree  bark.  When  subsequently  he  had 
occasion  to  go  to  the  trading-house,  he  first  drank  a  little 
from  this  decanter. 

Another  Bwanga-bwa-Ibama,  or  trade  medicine,  is  concocted 
as  follows:  A  man  who  decides  to  make  one  for  himself  does 
not  allow  any  one  but  his  wife  to  know  what  he  is  about  to  do. 
He  gathers  from  the  forest  leaves  of  a  tree,  by  name  "kota," 
the  skin  of  a  flying-squirrel  (ngunye),  from  some  dead  per- 
son the  nail  from  the  fourth  or  little  finger  (of  either  hand), 
and  the  tip  of  the  tongue,  some  drops  of  his  wife's  menses,  a 
solution  of  red-wood  powder,  and  the  long  tail-feathers  of  a 
forest  bird,  by  name  "  kilinga. "  He  then  provides  himself  with 
an  antelope's  horn.  Having  burned  the  squirrel  skin,  he  puts 
its  ashes  into  the  horn,  mixed  with  the  above-named  articles, 
including  the  feather,  whose  end  is  allowed  to  stick  out. 
Then,  with  the  gum  of  the  okume,  or  African  mahogan}' 
tree,  he  closes  the  mouth  of  the  horn,  as  with  a  cork,  to 
prevent  the  liquid  contents  from  escaping.  This  horn  he 
suspends  by  a  string  from  his  neck  or  shoulder  whenever  he 
takes  it  with  him  on  a  journey.  He  uses  it  in  his  trade 
dealings  with  both  whites  and  blacks.  Before  beginning  a 
bargain  or  asking  a  white  trader  or  another  person  for  gifts 
of  goods,  he  secretly  pulls  out  the  feather  through  the  soft 
gum,  and  rubs  a  little  of  tlie  liquid  on  the  end  of  his  nose. 


THE    FETICH    IN   DAILY    LIFE  181 

When  this  feticli  is  not  in  nso,  it  is  hidden  in  liis  bedroom 
or  other  private  part  of  his  honse.  But  no  one,  not  even 
his  own  family,  is  aUowed  to  know  where  it  is  kept. 

Among  the  Mpongwe  tribes  of  the  equator  in  West  Africa 
there  are  trade  medicines  that  involve  actual  murder.  One 
of  these  is  called  "Okundu."  Like  modern  spiritualism,  it 
seeks  to  employ  a  human  medium  to  communicate  with  the 
dead;  but  it  is  unlike  spiritualism  in  that  the  medium  must 
actually  be  killed  before  he  can  go  on  his  errand. 

In  the  case  of  a  man  who  seeks  to  become  wealthy  in  trade 
and  goes  to  a  magic  doctor  for  that  purpose,  the  doctor 
tells  him  of  the  different  kinds  of  medicine,  and  some  of 
the  most  important  things  required  for  each.  The  seeker 
may  choose  what  he  is  able  and  willing  to  do.  For  Okundu 
medicine  it  is  required  that  the  seeker  shall  name  some  one 
or  more  of  his  relatives  who  he  is  willing  should  die,  and 
that  their  spirits  be  sent  to  influence  white  traders  or  other 
persons  of  wealth,  and  make  them  favorably  disposed 
toward  the  seeker,  so  that  they  may  employ  him  in  positions 
of  honor  and  profit.  If  the  seeker  hesitate  to  do  the  actual 
murder,  the  doctor,  by  his  black  art,  is  to  kill  the  person 
nominated  and  send  him  on  his  errand.  If  the  fear  should 
occur  to  the  seeker  that  perhaps  the  murdered  relative,  in- 
stead of  devoting  himself  in  the  spirit-world  to  the  trade  in- 
terests of  his  murderer,  should  attempt  to  avenge  himself,  the 
subject  is  dismissed  by  the  doctor's  assurance  that  either  the 
spirit  shall  not  know  that  the  death  of  its  body  was  premature, 
or  that  he  will  overrule  it  for  the  desired  purpose. 

I  know,  personally,  a  Mpongwe  man  still  living  in  Gabun 
who  is  believed  to  have  done  this  Okundu.  He  is  of  promi- 
nent family,  and  had  held  lucrative  service  with  white  traders. 
His  fortunes  began  to  wane ;  he  fell  into  debt,  and  white  men 
began  to  doubt  him  and  hesitated  to  entrust  him.  Though 
wearing  the  dress  of  a  civilized  gentleman,  he  is  a  heathen 
at  heart.  He  had  a  little  slave  boy.  The  child  suddenly  and 
mysteriously  disappeared.  Those  who  asked  questions  re- 
ceived evasive  and  contradictory  answers.     A  very  reliable 


182  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

native  told  me  that  it  was  known  that  this  man  had  been 
communicating  with  an  Okundu  doctor,  and  many  believed 
that  the  child  had  been  put  to  death.  But  no  one  dared  to 
say  anything  openly,  and  there  was  not  suflicient  proof  on 
which  to  lay  an  information  before  the  French  governor, 
only  a  mile  distant. 

Another  Mpongwe  trade  medicine  is  Mbumbu  (which  means 
"rainbow").  Old  tradition  said  that  the  rainbow  was  caused 
by  a  forest  vine  which  a  great  snake  had  changed  to  the  form 
of  the  sun-colored  arc.  The  seeker  of  wealth  is  aided  by  the 
doctor  to  obtain  a  piece  of  this  rainbow,  which  he  keeps  in 
secret,  and  can  carry  hidden  with  him.  By  it  he  is  able  at 
any  time  to  kill  any  one  of  his  relatives  whom  he  may  choose 
(of  course  unknown  to  them)  and  send  their  spirits  off  to  in- 
duce foreign  traders  to  give  him  a  store  of  goods  (the 
children's  pot  of  gold  at  the  rainbow's  end?). 

For  Sickness.  Among  the  Mpongwe  and  adjacent  tribes 
there  are  three  kinds  of  spirits  invoked,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  disease.  These  are  Nkinda,  Ombwiri,  and 
Olaga. 

It  is  clear  that  these,  as  explained  in  a  previous  chapter, 
are  names  of  spirits,  but  the  same  names  (as  in  the  case  of 
other  fetich  mixtures)  are  given  to  the  medicines  in  whose 
preparation  they  are  invoked.  But  my  informants  differed 
in  their  opinions  whether  these  names  indicate  different  kinds 
of  spirits,  or  only  a  difference  in  the  functions  or  works  done 
by  them.  One  very  intelligent  and  prominent  native  at  first 
seemed  uncertain,  but  subsequently  said  that  "  Nki;ida  "  in- 
dicated the  spirits  of  the  common  dead;  "Ombwiri"  .the 
spirits  of  distinguished  dead,  kings,  and  other  prominent 
men;  and  "Olaga,"  a  higher  class,  who  had  been  admitted  to 
an  "angelic  "  position  in  the  spirit-world.  All,  however,  as- 
serted that  all  these  are  spirits  of  former  human  beings. 
Which  kind  shall  be  invoked  depends  on  the  doctor's 
diagnosis  of  the  disease. 

Take  the  case  of  some  one  who  has  been  sick  with  an 
obscure  disease  that  has  not  yielded  to  ordinary  medication: 


« 


THE    FETICH   IN   DAILY   LIFE  183 

the  doctor  begins  his  incantations  with  drum  and  dance  and 
song.  Tliis  is  sometimes  kept  np  all  night,  and  in  minor 
cases  the  patient  is  required  to  join  in  these  ceremonies. 
But  in  the  more  mystic  Nkinda,  Ombwiri,  and  Olaga  the  sick 
person  sits  still,  being  required  to  do  so  as  a  part  of  the 
diagnosis.  For  if  after  a  while  the  patient  shall  begin  to 
nod  his  head  violently,  it  is  a  sign  that  a  spirit  of  some  one 
of  these  three  classes  has  taken  possession  of  him.  The 
doctor  then  takes  him  to  a  secret  place  in  the  forest,  and 
asks  the  spirit  what  kind  it  is,  and  what  the  nature  of  the 
disease.  The  reply,  though  made  by  the  patient,  is  not  sup- 
posed to  be  his,  but  the  spirit's  who  is  using  his  mouth.  Really 
the  sick,  dazed,  submissive  patient  does  not  know  what  he  is 
saying.  After  this  diagnosis  the  doctor  goes  to  seek  plants 
suitable  for  the  disease.  By  chance  the  patient  may  recover. 
If  he  does  not,  the  doctor  asserts  that  the  spirit  had  misin- 
formed him,  and  the  ceremony  must  be  performed  again. 

One  of  the  physical  signs  indicating  that  Olaga,  rather 
than  Nkinda  or  Ombwiri,  is  the  medicine  to  be  used,  is  vomit- 
ing. Hemorrhages  from  the  lungs  would  be  included  in  the 
Olaga  diagnosis. 

"Among  the  Mashonas  of  South  Africa  a  'medicine  '  used 
is  a  small  antelope  horn  called  'egona, '  in  which  was  a 
mixture  of  ground-nut  oil  and  a  medicinal  bark  known  as 
'unchanya. '  The  concoction  is  taken  out  on  the  end  of  a  stick 
termed  'mutira, '  and  administered  to  the  patient  by  dropping 
it  into  his  ear.  The  doctor  stated  that  it  was  a  sure  cure  for 
headache. 

"Another  horn,  four  inches  long,  called  'mulimate,'  was 
for  the  purpose  of  cupping  and  bleeding,  and  is  used  in  this 
wise:  An  incision  is  made  with  a  knife  into  the  body,  the 
large  end  of  the  horn  is  placed  over  the  wound ;  then  a  vacuum 
is  formed  by  the  doctor's  sucking  the  air  out  through  an  open- 
ing at  the  little  end.  The  small  hole  is  closed  with  wax,  and 
the  horn  is  left  until  it  has  become  filled  with  clotted  blood. 
This  is  the  process  of  curing  rheumatism  and  other  maladies, 
which  are  supposed  by  the  Mashonas  to  be  literally  drawn  out 


184  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

with  the  blood.  Bleeding  is  practised  extensively;  and  I 
have  seen  natives  bled  from  arms,  legs,  body,  and  head  nntil 
they  were  so  exhausted  that  weeks  were  required  for  their 
recovery. 

"Another  important  instrument  was  a  brush  made  of  a 
zebra's  tail,  among  the  hairs  of  which  were  tied  many  small 
roots  and  herbs  possessing  various  medicinal  properties.  One 
of  the  remedies  was  known  as  'gwandere, '  and,  taken  inter- 
nally, was  a  sure  cure  for  worms,  so  the  doctor  stated.  The 
brush  was  called  'muskwa, '  this  being  the  name  of  any  ani- 
mal's tail.  The  doctor  demonstrated  its  use  by  operating 
upon  a  man  in  my  presence.  He  placed  some  powdered 
herbs  in  a  bowl  of  water,  then  dipped  the  brush  in,  and 
sprinkled  the  patient.  Next,  he  performed  several  magic 
evolutions  with  the  brush  around  the  patient's  body,  at  the 
same  time  repeating,  'May  the  sickness  leave  this  person!  ' 
and  so  forth.  The  doctor  told  me  that  after  this  operation 
the  patient  was  certain  of  recovery,  unless  some  witch  or 
spirit  intervened  to  prevent  it  or  to  cause  his  death."  ^ 

For  Loving.  Love  philtres  are  common,  even  among  the 
civilized  and  professedly  Christian  portion  of  the  community. 
Philtres  are  both  male  and  female.  If  a  woman  says  to  her- 
self, "  My  husband  does  not  love  me ;  I  will  make  him  love 
me !  "  or  if  any  woman  desires  to  make  any  man  love  her,  she 
prepares  a  medicine  for  that  purpose.  This  charm  is  called 
"lyele."  The  process  is  as  follows:  First,  she  scrapes  from 
the  sole  of  her  foot  some  skin,  and  lays  it  carefully  aside. 
Next,  when  she  has  occasion  to  go  to  the  public  latrine  at 
the  seaside  or  on  the  edge  of  the  forest,  she  washes  her  geni- 
tals in  a  small  bowl  of  water,  which  she  secretly  carries  to 
her  house.  Then,  with  a  knife,  she  scrapes  a  little  skin 
and  mucous  from  the  end  of  her  tongue.  These  three  in- 
gredients she  mixes  in  a  bottle  of  water,  which  is  to  be  used 
in  her  cooking. 

The  most  attractive  native  mode  of  cooking  fish  and  meat 
is  in  jomba  ("bundle").     The  flesh  is  cut  into  pieces  and 

Brown,  On  the  South  African  Frontier. 


THE    FETICH    IN    DAILY   LIFE  185 

laid  in  layers  with  salt,  pepper,  some  crushed  oily  nut,  and 
a  little  water.  These  all  are  tied  up  tightly  in  several  thick- 
nesses of  fresh  green  plantain  leaves,  and  the  bundle  is  set 
on  a  bed  of  hot  coals.  The  water  in  the  bundle  is  converted 
into  steam  before  the  thick  fleshy  leaves  are  charred  through. 
The  steam,  unable  to  escape,  permeates  the  flbres  of  the  meat, 
thoroughly  cooking  it  without  boiling  or  burning. 

When  the  above-mentioned  woman  cooks  for  the  man,  her 
husband,  or  any  other  for  whom  she  is  making  the  philtre, 
the  Avater  she  uses  in  the  jomba  is  taken  from  tliat  prepared 
l)()ttle.  This  jomba  she  sets  before  him,  and  he  eats  of  it 
(unaware,  of  course,  of  her  intention,  or  of  the  special  mode 
of  preparation).  It  is  fully  believed  that  the  desired  effect 
is  immediate ;  that,  as  soon  as  he  has  finished  eating,  all  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  will  be  turned  toward  this  woman,  and 
that  he  will  be  ready  to  comply  with  any  wish  of  hers.  No 
objection  to  her,  or  to  \vhat  she  says,  coming  from  any  other 
person  in  the  village,  male  or  female,  will  be  regarded  by 
him. 

I  know  a  certain  Gabun  woman  who  boasted  of  her  power, 
by  the  above-described  means,  to  cause  a  certain  white  man 
whom  she  loved  (but  who  was  not  her  husband)  to  do  any- 
thing at  all  that  she  bade  him. 

Also  a  small  portion  from  that  bottle  may  be  poured 
(secretly)  into  the  glass  of  liquor  that  is  to  be  drunk  by  a 
favored  guest.  This  is  practised  alike  on  visitors,  white  or 
black. 

The  process  of  making  a  love  charm  by  a  man  is  n\ore 
elaborate.  The  ingredients  are  more  numerous  and  require 
more  time  in  their  collection.  Having  fixed  his  desire 
on  some  woman,  he  decides  in  his  heart,  "I  am  going  to 
marry  such  and  such  a  woman  in  such  and  such  a  village!  " 
But  he  keeps  his  intention  entirely  secret.  He  proceeds  to 
make  the  male  charm  called  "Ebabi."  (I  do  not  know  the 
origin  of  this  word;  it  looks  as  if  it  belonged  to  the  ad- 
jective "  bobabu  "  =  sof t,  which  is  a  derivative  of  the  verb 
"babaka,"  to  yield,  to  consent,  to  soften.)     The  first  ingre- 


186  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

dient  is  coconut  oil,  which  is  poured  into  a  flask  made  of 
a  small  gourd  or  calabash.  Then,  going  to  the  forest,  he 
gathers  leaves  of  the  bongam  tree.  Another  day  he  will  go 
again  to  the  forest,  and  find  leaves  of  the  bokadi  tree.  Then 
he  plucks  some  hairs  from  his  arm-pits,  and  puts  them  and  the 
bruised  leaves,  with  some  of  his  own  urine,  into  the  flask. 
This  flask  he  then  suspends  from  his  kitchen  roof  above  the 
itaka  frame  or  hanging-shelf  that  in  almost  all  kitchens  is 
placed  above  the  fire-hearth.  It  remains  there  in  the  smoke 
f(»r  ten  days.  Then  taking  it  down,  he  inserts  into  it,  tip 
downward,  a  long  tail-feather  of  a  large  bird  called  "  koka." 
lie  is  ready  then  for  his  experiment.  Any  day  that  he 
chooses  to  go  to  seek  the  woman,  he  first  draws  out  the 
feather,  with  whatever  of  the  mixture  clings  to  it,  and 
wipes  it  on  his  hands.  His  hands  he  then  rubs  over  his  face 
rapidly  and  vigorously,  saying,  "  So  will  1  do  to  that  woman !  " 
He  must  immediately  then  start  on  his  journey.  This  act 
of  anointing  his  hands  and  face  must  have  been  his  very  last 
act  before  starting.  And  there  are  several  prohibitions.  He 
must  have  thought  beforehand  of  all  things  needed  to  be  done 
or  handled,  for  after  the  anointing  he  must  not  touch  any 
other  thing.  In  taking  the  gourd-flask  from  above  the 
hanging-shelf  he  must  not  touch  the  shelf.  He  must  not 
rub  or  scratch  his  head.  He  must  not  handle  a  broom. 
He  must  not  shake  hands  with  any  one  on  the  path  to  the 
woman's  village.  All  these  prohibitions  are  in  order  that 
the  anointed  mixture  may  not  be  rubbed  off,  or  its  effect 
counteracted  by  contact  with  anything  else.  When  he  reaches 
the  woman's  village,  he  goes  directly  to  her,  and  clasping  her 
on  the  shoulder,  he  rubs  his  hands  downward  on  her  arm, 
saying,  "  You !  you  woman !  I  love  you !  "  Instantly  the 
medicine  is  operative,  and  she  is  willing  to  go  with  him. 

If  it  is  only  a  love  affair,  she  goes  secretly.  If  he  offers 
her  marriage,  there  is  first  the  amicable  settlement  by  the 
council  that  is  then  held  by  the  woman's  family  as  to  the 
amount  of  the  dowry  to  be  paid  for  her.  Presents  having 
been  given  to   her  by  him,   the  woman  goes  with  the  man 


THE   FETICH   IN   DAILY   LIFE  187 

without  further  objection.  On  reaching  his  house,  he  points 
out  to  her  the  gourd-thisk  hanging  in  the  kitclien,  and  tells 
her,  "Let  that  thing  alone."  But  he  does  not  inform  her 
what  it  is ;  nor  does  she  know  or  suspect  that  it  is  anything 
more  than  an  ordinary  fetich.  Nor  does  any  one  else  know; 
for  no  one  had  been  allowed  to  see  him  perform  any  part 
of  the  several  processes  of  the  ritual  in  compounding  the 
charm. 

Fur  Fishing.  The  prescription  for  making  the  fetich  for 
success  in  fishing  is  as  follows:  Go  in  the  morning  early, 
while  the  rest  of  the  villagers  are  asleep,  to  an  adjacent 
marsh  or  pond.  (Almost  all  African  villages  are  built  on 
or  near  the  bank  of  some  stream  or  lake.)  Find  a  place 
where  pond-lilies  are  growing.  Wade  into  the  pond,  bend 
low  in  the  water,  and  pluck  three  lily-pads.  There  are 
water -spiders,  called  "  mbwa-ja-miba"  (dogs  of  the  water  ), 
generally  running  over  the  surface  of  the  water  at  such 
places;  catch  four  of  them.  Gather  also  leaves  of  another 
water-plant  called  "ngama."  All  these  articles  leave  in  the 
village  in  a  safe  place.  When  other  fishers  come  in  from 
the  sea,  go  to  the  beach  to  meet  them;  and  if  they  have 
among  their  catch  a  certain  fish  called  "hume,"  having  three 
spines,  beg  or  buy  it.  This  you  are  to  dry  over  the  fire. 
Watch  the  daily  fishing  until  some  one  has  killed  a  shark; 
obtain  its  heart,  which  also  is  to  be  dried.  Take  also  a  plate 
full  of  gourd  seeds  (Uganda)  and  some  ground-nuts  (mbenda); 
also  five  "fingers"  of  unripe  plantains  cut  from  the  living 
bunch  on  the  stalk,  and  a  tumblerful  of  palm-oil.  All  these 
above-named  ingredients  are  to  be  mixed  in  one  pot  (which 
must  be  earthen)  and  are  to  be  cooked  in  it.  While  the 
mess  is  boiling,  sit  by,  face  over  the  pot,  in  the  steam  rising 
from  it,  and  speak  into  the  pot,  "Let  me  catch  fish  every 
day!  every  day !  "  No  people  are  to  be  present,  or  to  see  any 
of  these  proceedings.  Take  the  pot  off  the  fire,  not  with 
your  hands,  but  by  your  feet,  and  set  it  on  the  ground. 
Take  all  your  fish-hooks,  and  hold  them  in  the  steam  arising 
from  the  pot.     Take  a  banana  leaf  that  is  perfect  and  not 


188  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

torn  by  wind,  and  laying  it  on  the  ground,  spread  ont  the 
hooks  on  it.  Then  eat  the  stewed  mess,  not  with  a  real 
spoon,  but  with  a  leaf  twisted  as  a  spoon.  In  eating,  the 
inedible  portions,  such  as  fish-bones,  skins,  rind,  and  so 
forth,  are  not  to  be  ejected  from  the  mouth  on  the  ground, 
but  must  be  removed  by  the  fingers  and  carefully  laid  on  the 
banana  leaf.  Having  finished  eating,  call  one  of  the  village 
dogs,  as  if  it  was  to  be  given  liberty  to  eat  the  remains  of  the 
mess.  As  the  dog  begins  to  eat,  strike  it  sharply,  and  as 
the  animal  runs  away  howling,  say,  "So!  may  I  strike  fish!  " 
Then  kick  the  pot  over.  Take  the  refuse  of  food  from  the 
banana  leaf,  and  the  hooks,  and  lay  them  at  the  foot  of  the 
plantain  stalk  from  which  the  five  "fingers  "  were  cut.  Leave 
the  pot  lying  as  it  was  until  night.  Then,  unseen,  take  it 
out  into  the  village  street,  and  violently  dash  it  to  pieces  on 
the  ground,  saying,  "So!  may  I  kill  fish!"  It  is  expected 
that  the  villagers  shall  not  hear  the  sound  of  the  breaking  of 
the  vessel ;  for  it  must  be  done  only  when  they  are  believed 
to  be  asleep.  When  the  bunch  of  plantains  from  which  those 
fingers  were  taken  ripens,  and  is  finally  cut  down  for  food  by 
others,  you  are  forbidden  to  eat  not  only  of  it,  but  of  the  fruit 
of  any  of  its  shoots  that  in  regular  succession,  year  after  year 
(according  to  the  manner  of  bananas  and  plantains),  take  the 
place  of  the  predecessor  stalk.  You  may  never  eat  of  their 
fruit. 

For  Planting.  Planting  is  done  almost  entirely  by  women. 
If  a  woman  says  to  herself,  "  I  want  to  have  plenty  of  food ! 
I  will  make  medicine  for  it!  "  she  proceeds  to  gather  the  nec- 
essary ingredients.  She  takes  her  ukwala  (machete),  pavo 
(knife),  short  hoe  (like  a  trowel),  and  elinga  (basket),  and 
goes  to  the  forest.  She  must  go  very  early  in  the  morning, 
and  alone.  She  gathers  a  leaf  called  "tube,"  another  called 
"  injenji, "  the  bark  of  a  tree  called  "  bohamba, "  the  bark  also  of 
elamba,  and  leaves  of  bokuda.  Hiding  them  in  a  safe  place, 
she  goes  back  to  her  village  to  get  her  earthen  pot.  Return- 
ing with  it  to  the  forest,  she  makes  a  fire,  not  with  coals 
from  the  village,  but  with  new,  clean  fire  made  by  the  two 


THE   FETICH   IN   DAILY   LIFE  189 

fire-sticks.  These,  used  by  natives  before  steel  and  flint 
were  introduced,  require  often  an  hour's  twirling  before 
friction  develops  sufficient  heat  to  cause  a  spark.  The  sparks 
are  caught  on  thoroughly  dried  plantain  fibre.  Then  she 
builds  her  fire.  She  goes  to  some  spring  or  stream  for  water 
to  put  in  the  pot  with  the  leaves  and  barks,  and  sets  it  on 
the  fire.  All  this  while  she  is  not  to  be  seen  by  other  people. 
When  the  water  has  boiled,  she  sets  the  pot  in  the  middle 
of  the  acre  of  ground  which  she  intends  to  clear  for  her 
garden  until  its  contents  cool.  In  the  meanwhile  she  goes 
to  some  creek  and  gets  "chalk"  (a  white  clay  is  found  in 
places  in  the  beds  of  streams).  She  washes  it  clean  of  mud 
and  rubs  it  on  her  breast.  Then  she  takes  the  pot,  and 
empties  its  decoction  by  sprinkling  it,  with  a  bunch  of  leaves, 
over  the  ground,  saying,  "  My  forefathers !  now  in  the 
land  of  spirits,  give  me  food  !  Let  me  have  food  more  abun- 
dantly than  all  other  people!  "  Then  she  again  sets  the  pot 
in  the  middle  of  the  proposed  plantation.  She  takes  from  it 
the  tube  leaves  and  puts  them  into  four  little  cornucopias 
(ehongo),  which  she  rolls  from  another  large  leaf  of  the 
elende  tree.  She  sets  these  in  the  four  corners  of  the  garden. 
Whenever  she  comes  on  any  other  day  to  work  in  the  garden, 
she  pulls  a  succulent  plant,  squeezes  its  juice  into  the  ehongo ; 
and  this  juice  she  drops  into  her  eye.  To  be  efficient,  this 
medicine  has  a  prohibition  connected  with  it,  viz.,  that 
during  the  days  of  her  menses  she  shall  not  go  to  the 
garden. 

When  her  plants  have  grown,  and  she  has  eaten  of  them, 
she  must  break  the  pot.  Having  done  so,  she  makes  a  large 
fire  at  an  end  of  the  garden,  and  burns  the  pieces  of  earthen- 
ware so  that  they  shall  be  utterly  calcined.  It  is  not  required 
that  she  shall  stay  by  the  fire  awaiting  that  result.  She  may, 
if  she  wishes,  in  the  meanwhile  go  back  to  her  village. 
She  takes  the  ashes  of  the  pot,  mixes  them  with  chalk  in 
a  jomba  (bundle)  of  leaves,  which  she  ties  to  a  tree  of  her 
garden  in  a  hidden  spot  where  people  will  not  see  it. 

Another  strict  prohibition  is  required  of  her  by  the  medi- 


190  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

cine,  viz.^  that  she  is  not  to  steal  from  another  woman's 
garden.  If  she  break  this  law,  her  own  garden  will  not 
produce.  The  jomba  is  kept  for  years,  or  as  long  as  she 
plants  at  that  place,  and  the  chalk  mixture  is  rubbed  on 
her  breast  at  each  planting  season.  From  time  to  time  also, 
as  the  leaves  of  the  jomba  decay  or  break  away,  she  puts 
fresh  ones  about  it,  to  j)revent  the  wetting  of  its  contents 
by  rain  or  its  injury  in  any  other  way. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   FETICH  —  SUPERSTITION   IN   CUSTOMS 

THE  observances  of  fetich  worship  fade  off  into  the  cus- 
toms and  habits  of  life  by  gradations,  so  that  in  some 
of  the  superstitious  beliefs,  while  there  may  be  no  formal 
handling  of  a  fetich  amulet  containing  a  spirit,  nor  actual 
})rayer  or  sacrifice,  nevertheless  spiritism  is  in  the  thought, 
and  more  or  less  consciously  held. 

In  our  civilization  there  are  thousands  of  professedly  Chris- 
tian people  who  are  superstitious  in  such  things  as  fear  of 
Friday,  No.  13,  spilled  salt,  etc.  In  my  childhood,  at  Easton, 
Pa.,  I  was  sent  on  an  errand  to  a  German  farmhouse.  The 
kind-hearted  Fran  was  weeding  her  strawberry  bed  in  the 
spring  garden-making,  and  was  throwing  over  the  fence  into 
the  public  road  superfluous  runners.  I  asked  permission  to 
pick  them  up  to  plant  in  my  own  little  garden.  She  kindly 
assented,  and  I  thanked  her  for  them,  whereupon  she  ex- 
claimed, "Ach!  nein!  nein!  Das  ist  no  goot!  You  say, 
'Dank  you';  now  it  no  can  grow  any  more!"  I  was  too 
young  to  inquire  into  the  philosophy  of  the  matter.  Surely 
she  would  not  forbid  gratitude.  I  think  the  gist  of  what  she 
thought  my  error  was,  that  I  had  thanked  her  for  what  she 
considered  a  worthless  thing  and  had  thrown  away.  I  do 
not  think  she  would  have  objected  to  thanks  for  anything 
she  valued  sufficiently  to  offer  as  a  gift. 

The  difference  between  my  old  Pennsylvania-Dutch  lady 
and  my  "  Number  13  "  acquaintances,  and  my  African  Negro 
friend  is  that  to  tlie  former,  while  they  are  somewhat  in- 
fluenced by  their  superstition,  it  is  not  their  God.  To  the 
latter  it  is  the  practical  and  logical  application  of  his  religion. 
Theirs  is  a  pitiable  weakness ;  his  a  trusted  belief. 


192  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

It  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate  all  the  thousands  of 
practices  dominated  by  the  superstitious  beliefs  of  the  Bantu, 
—  practices  which  sometimes  erect  themselves  into  customs 
and  finally  obtain  almost  the  force  of  law.  Many  of  these 
are  prevalent  all  over  Africa ;  others  are  local. 

Rules  of  Pregnancy. 

Everywhere  are  rules  of  pregnancy  which  bind  both  the 
woman  and  her  husband.  During  pregnancy  neither  of 
them  is  permitted  to  eat  the  flesh  of  any  animal  which  was 
itself  pregnant  at  the  time  of  its  slaughter.  Even  of  the  flesh 
of  a  non-pregnant  animal  there  are  certain  parts  —  the  heart, 
liver,  and  entrails  —  which  may  not  be  eaten  by  them.  It  is 
claimed  that  to  eat  of  such  food  at  such  a  time  would  make 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  for  the  unborn  infant.  During  his 
wife's  pregnancy  a  man  may  not  cut  the  throat  of  any  animal 
nor  assist  in  the  butchering  of  it.  A  carpenter  whose  wife 
is  pregnant  must  not  drive  a  nail.  To  do  so  would  close  the 
womb  and  cause  a  difficult  labor.  He  may  do  all  other  work 
belonging  to  carpentering,  but  he  must  have  an  assistant  to 
drive  the  nails. 

In  my  early  years  on  Corisco  Island,  and  while  I  was  ex- 
pecting to  become  a  father,  I  was  one  day  superintending  the 
butchering  of  a  sheep.  It  was  not  necessary  that  I  should 
actually  use  the  knife;  that  was  done  by  the  cook;  but  I 
stood  by  to  see  that  the  work  was  done  in  a  cleanly  manner, 
and  that  in  the  flaying  the  skin  should  be  rolled  constantly 
away,  so  that  the  hair  should  not  touch  the  flesh.  In  the 
dissection  I  assisted,  so  that  the  flesh  should  not  be  defiled 
by  a  carelessly  wounded  entrail.  My  servant  was  amazed, 
and  said  my  child  would  be  injured.  He  was  still  more 
shocked  when  Mrs.  Nassau  herself  came  to  urge  haste  and 
to  secure  the  liver  for  dinner. 

Among  the  station  employees  on  Corisco  in  1864  was  an 
ex-slave,  a  recent  convert,  whose  freedom  had  been  pur- 
chased by  one  of  the  missionaries.  The  native  non-Christian 
freemen  begrudged  him  his  position  as  a  mission  employee ; 


THE   FETICH   IN   CUSTOMS  193 

for  Iiis  wages  were  now  his  own,  and  could  no  longer  be 
claimed  by  his  former  master.  Some  of  his  fellow-servants, 
freemen,  put  off  on  liim,  as  much  as  they  could,  the  more 
menial  tasks.  It  was  incumbent,  therefore,  on  the  mission- 
aries to  see  that  he  was  not  oppressed  by  his  fellows.  Clear- 
ing of  the  graveyard  was  a  task  no  one  liked  to  have  assigned 
to  him ;  and  it  was  often  thrown  on  poor  Evosa.  One  day  a 
newly  arrived  missionary,  the  Rev.  George  Paull,  the  noblest 
of  my  associates  these  forty  years,  who  just  then  knew 
little  of  the  language  or  of  native  thought  or  custom, 
ordered  Evosa  to  take  his  hoe  and  clean  the  cemetery  path. 
Evosa  bluntly  said,  "Mba  haye!  "  (I  won't).  "You  won't  ! 
You  refuse  to  obey  me?"  "Mba  haye!"  "Then  I  dismiss 
you."  Evosa  went  away,  much  cast  down.  Some  of  his 
fellow-Christians  came  to  me  saying  they  were  sorry  for  him, 
and  asked  me  to  interfere.  "But,"  I  said,  "he  should  obey; 
the  work  is  not  hard."  "  Oh!  but  he  can't  do  it!  "  "  Why 
not?"  "Because  his  wife  is  pregnant."  Immediately  I 
understood.  Evosa  may  not  have  believed  in  the  supersti- 
tion, but  for  all  that,  if  he  did  the  work  and  subsequently 
there  should  be  anything  untoward  in  his  wife's  confinement, 
her  relatives  would  exact  a  heavy  fine  of  him.  We  had  not 
required  our  converts  to  disregard  these  prohibitions,  if  only 
they  did  not  actually  engage  in  any  act  of  fetich  worship.  I 
was  careful  to  say  nothing  to  the  natives  that  would  under- 
mine my  missionary  brother's  authority;  but  privately  I  in- 
timated to  Mr.  Paull  that  I  thought  that  if  he  had  been  fully 
aware  of  the  state  of  the  case,  he  would  not  have  dismissed 
the  man.  He  was  just,  and  reversed  the  dismissal.  Evosa 
was  pardoned  also  for  the  bluntness  of  his  refusal ;  it  was  a 
part  of  his  slavish  ignorance.  In  conclusion,  I  warned  him 
that  he  should  have  explained  to  Mr.  Paull  the  ground  of  his 
refusal,  and  should  have  asked  for  other  work.  He  had  not 
supposed  that  the  white  man  did  not  know;  and  the  ask- 
ing of  excuse  is  a  part  of  politeness  that  has  to  be  taught. 
Almost  every  new  missionary  makes  unwise  or  unjust  orders 
and  decisions  before  he  learns  on  what  superstitious  grounds 

13 


194  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

he  is  treading.     Not  all  are  willing  to  be  rectified  as  was  my 
noble  brother  Paull. 

In  the  burial  of  a  first-born  infant  the  lid  of  the  coffin  is 
not  only  not  allowed  to  be  nailed  down,  but  it  must  not  en- 
tirely cover  the  corpse ;  a  space  must  be  left  open  (generally 
above  the  child's  head);  the  superstition  being  that  if  the 
coffin  be  closed,  the  mother  will  bear  no  more  children. 

Omens  on  Journeys. 

Almost  every  traveller  in  Africa,  in  publishing  his  story, 
has  much  to  say  about  the  difficulties  in  getting  his  caravan 
of  porters  started  on  their  daily  journey.  His  detailed  ac- 
count of  slowness,  disobedience,  and  desertions  is  as  monoto- 
nous to  the  reader  as  they  were  distressing  to  himself.  Did 
he  but  know  it,  the  fault  was  often  largely  his  own.  The 
man  of  haste  and  exactitude,  that  has  grown  up  on  railroad 
time-tables,  demands  the  impossible  of  aborigines  who  never 
have  needed  to  learn  the  value  of  time.  Anglo-Saxon,  Teu- 
tonic, and  even  Latin  diligence  expects  too  much  of  the 
happy-go-lucky  African.  The  traveller  fumes,  and  frets, 
and  works  himself  into  a  fever.  He  Avould  gain  more  in  the 
end  if  he  would  festina  lente.  He  would  save  himself  many 
a  quarrel  or  case  of  discipline  (for  which  he  earns  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  a  hard  master ;  and  for  which,  further  on  in  the 
journey,  he  may  be  shot  by  one  of  his  outraged  servants)  if 
he  only  knew  that  superstition  had  met  his  servant,  as  the 
angel  "with  his  sword  drawn"  met  Balaam's  ass,  "in  a  nar- 
row place"  ;  and  that  servant  could  no  more  have  dared  to 
go  on  in  the  way  than  could  that  wise  ass  who  knew  and  saw 
what  his  angry  master  did  not  know. 

Mr.  R.  E.  Dennett,  for  many  years  a  resident  in  Loango 
among  the  Bavili  people,  and  author  of  "  Seven  Years 
among  the  Fjort,"  recognizes  this  in  "  A  Few  Signs  and 
Omens,"  contributed  recently  to  a  Liverpool  weekl}^  journal, 
"West  Africa."  What  he  says  of  the  Fyat  (Fiot)  tribes  is 
largely  true  of  all  the  other  West  African  tribes.  "They 
have  a  number  of  things  to  take  into  consideration,  when 


THE   FETICH   IN   CUSTOMS  195 

setting  out  upon  a  journe}^  which  may  account  for  many  of 
tliose  otherwise  inexplicable  delays  which  so  annoy  the  white 
man  at  times  when  anxious  to  start  'one  time  '  for  some  place 
or  other. 

"  The  first  thing  a  white  man  should  do  is  to  see  that  the 
Negro's  fetiches  are  all  in  order;  then,  when  on  the  way,  he 
must  manage  things  so  that  the  first  person  the  caravan  shall 
meet  shall  be  a  woman;  for  that  is  a  good  sign,  while  to 
meet  a  man  means  that  something  evil  is  going  to  happen. 
Then,  to  meet  the  bird  Kna  that  is  all  black  is  a  bad  sign ; 
while  the  Kna  that  has  its  wings  tipped  with  white  is  a  good 
sign. 

"  The  rat  Benda  running  across  your  path  from  left  to  right 
is  good;  from  right  to  left  fairly  good;  should  it  appear  from 
the  left  and  run  ahead  in  the  direction  you  are  going,  'Oh! 
that  is  very  good ! '  but  should  it  run  towards  you,  well, 
then  the  best  thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  go  back ;  for  you  are 
sure  to  meet  with  bad  luck! 

"  See  that  your  men  start  with  their  left  foot  first,  and  that 
they  are  'high-steppers  ' ;  for  if  their  left  foot  meet  with  an 
obstacle,  and  is  not  badly  hurt,  it  is  not  a  bad  sign ;  but  if 
their  right  foot  knocks  against  anything,  you  must  go  back 
to  town. 

"  See  that  you  do  not  meet  that  nasty  brown  bird  called 
Mvia,  that  is  always  crying  out,  'Via,  via';  for  that  means 
'witch-palaver,'  and  strikes  consternation  into  your  people. 
Nobody  likes  to  be  reminded  of  his  sins  or  witch  deeds,  and 
be  condemned  to  be  burnt  in  the  fire;  and  that  is  what  'via ' 
means. 

"  Then  there  is  that  moderately  large  bird  with  wings 
tipped  with  white  called  'Nxeci, '  also  reminding  one  of 
'witch-palaver,'  and  continuously  crying  out,  'Ke-e-e, '  or 
'No.'  You  had  far  better  not  start. 

"  Take  care  also  to  shoot  the  cukoo  o  Nkuku  before  it 
crosses  your  path ;  for  if  you  allow  it  to  pass,  you  had  better 
return ;  it  is  a  bad  omen.  \ 

"Then,  concerning  owls:  see  that  your  camp  at  night  is 


196  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

not  disturbed  by  the  cry  of  the  Kulu  (spirit  of  the  departed), 
that  warns  you  that  one  of  you  is  going  to  die ;  or  that  of  the 
Xi-futu-nkubu,  which  means  that  you  may  expect  some  evil 
shortly.  On  the  other  hand,  let  the  Mampaulo-paulo  hoot 
as  much  as  it  likes;   for  that  is  a  good  sign. 

"  Then  look  out  that  the  snake  Nduma  does  not  cross  your 
path;  for  that  is  a  sign  of  death,  or  else  of  warning  to  you 
that  you  should  return  and  see  to  the  fetich  obligations 
the  iron  bracelet  Ngofu  reminds  you  of.  Examine  your  men, 
and  ask  those  who  wear  the  bracelet  the  following  questions : 
Have  you  eaten  the  flesh  of  anything  (save  birds)  on  the 
same  day  that  it  was  killed?  Have  you  pointed  your  knife 
at  any  one  ?  Did  you  know  your  wife  on  the  Day  of  Rest 
(Nsana,  Sunday)  ?  Have  you  looked  upon  a  woman  during 
a  certain  period  of  the  month  ?  Have  you  eaten  those  long 
'chilli'  peppers  instead  of  confining  yourself  to  the  smaller 
kinds  ? 

"  You  must  send  those  who  have  not  the  bracelet,  together 
with  those  who  have  not  been  true  to  ngofu,  back  to 
town,  to  set  this  '  palaver '  right.  Take  great  care  of  your 
fowls,  and  see  that  you  have  no  ill-regulated  cock  to  crow 
between  6  P.  m.  and  3  a.  m.,  as  that  means  that  there  is  a 
palaver  in  town  to  which  your  men  are  called,  so  that  it 
may  be  settled  at  once. 

"  Then,  there  is  that  large  bird  Knakna,  whose  cry  warns 
your  men  that  there  is  something  wrong  with  the  fetich  Mabili 
('the  east  wind,'  on  the  gateway  at  the  east  entrance  to  each 
town),  and  this  knowledge  will  hang  as  a  dead  weight  on  all 
their  energies  until  they  have  just  run  back  to  town  to  see 
what  the  matter  may  be. 

"Get  your  men  to  sleep  early,  lest  they  should  see  the 
'falling  stars  ' ;  for  it  means  that  one  of  their  princes  is  about 
to  die,  and  that  is  disquieting.  Then  don't  let  it  thunder 
out  of  season;  for  that  portends  the  death  of  an  important 
prince. 

"  And  if  you  determine  to  go  out  fishing,  and  meet  the  rat 
Benda  (as  above  noted),  go  or  not,  as  the  signs  command 


THE    FETICH   IN   CUSTOMS  197 

you.  If  you  meet  the  bird  Mbixi  tliat  sings 'luelo-elo-elo,' 
go  on  your  way  rejoicing:  or  when  the  little  bird  Nxexi, 
true  to  nature,  sings  'xixexi, '  all  is  well;  but  when  it  sings, 
'tietie,'  go  back,  for  you  will  catch  nothing. 

"  Then  there  is  the  wild  dog  Mbulu ;  well,  that  must  not 
cross  your  path  at  starting.  You  lavigh?  Well,  so  did 
Nyambi,  the  brother  of  my  headman,  Bayona ;  and  what  hap- 
pened ?  Nyambi  had  come  down  from  the  interior  with  his 
master;  and  after  a  short  stay  was  ordered  back  to  his  trad- 
ing post,  his  master  saying  that  he  would  follow  him  shortl3\ 
A  friend  handed  him  a  son  of  his  for  him  to  educate,  and  to 
attend  upon  him;  in  fact,  to  be  his  'boy.'  Everything  being 
ready,  he  set  out  from  Loango ;  and  the  first  thing  they  met 
on  the  road  was  the  wild  dog.  Now  Nj^ambi  was  a  plucky 
Bantu  and  took  no  notice  of  this  warning,  but  continued  on 
his  way.  On  reaching  the  forest  country  in  Mayomba,  the 
boy  entrusted  to  him  ran  away.  Nyambi,  true  to  his  trust, 
came  after  him  back  to  his  town,  to  see  that  the  boy  was  once 
more  placed  in  the  care  of  his  father,  and  so  to  avoid  any 
further  complications.  Then  he  once  more  started  on  his  way, 
and,  nearing  the  forest  country  again,  was  bitten  severely  on 
the  foot  by  a  snake.  He  tied  a  rag  around  his  leg  just  under 
the  knee,  and  another  just  above  his  ankle,  and  squeezed 
as  much  blood  as  he  could  from  the  wound  itself.  Then  he 
hobbled  into  the  nearest  town,  and  waited  there  for  assistance 
from  his  family,  to  whom  he  had  at  once  despatched  a  mes- 
senger. They  sent  men  and  women  to  bring  him  back  to 
Loango,  where  he  arrived  in  a  very  weak  condition,  and  with 
a  fearful  sore  on  his  foot,  —  an  awful  warning  to  all  those 
who  will  not  take  the  omens  sent  to  them  in  earnest!  What! 
you  still  laugh  ?  Well,  there  is  no  hope  for  you ;  you  are  too 
persistent,  and  have  not  read  the  story  of  the  rabbit  and  the 
antelope,  and  of  the  trap  laid  for  the  former. ^  And  if  you 
keep  on  laughing  at  these  superstitions  of  the  natives,  don't 
blame  any  one  if  they  call  you  a  'rabbit,'  and  refuse  to  follow 
you  in  your  wanderings  through  their  land.     Most  haste  is 

1  Tale  23,  p.  93.  my  "  Notes  on  the  Folk-Lore  of  tlie  Fiort." 


198  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

very  often  worst  speed  in  Africa;  and  the  white  man  who 
ignores  all  but  physical  difficulties  does  well  to  stay  his  im- 
patient hand  when  about  to  strike  his  most  provoking  and 
apparently  dilatory  black  carrier,  who  is  beset  by  endless 
moral  obstacles  retarding  his  progress  as  no  physical  diffi- 
culties can." 

When  I  was  beginning  my  pioneering  of  the  Ogowe  River 
in  September-November,  1874,  I  had  with  me  one  Christian 
coast  native.  I  completed  my  canoe's  crew  with  four  heathen 
Galwa,  placed  myself  under  the  patronage  of  the  Akele  chief 
Kasa,  resided  in  his  village,  and  bought  from  him  a  site, 
Belambila,  for  my  mission  station,  about  a  mile  distant  from 
him.  Daily  I  went  with  my  crew  in  the  canoe  to  work  at  the 
building  of  a  temporary  house  on  the  Belambila  premises. 
One  day  a  water-snake  crossed  the  canoe's  bow,  and  I  struck 
at  it.  The  Christian  looked  serious,  and  the  four  heathen 
laid  down  their  paddles.  It  was  sufficiently  disastrous  that 
the  snake  had  crossed  our  path ;  I  had  made  matters  worse  by 
attempting  to  injure  it.  They  said,  "  You  should  not  have 
done  that."  "Why?"  " Because  somewhere  and  sometime 
it  will  follow  us  and  will  bite  us.  Let  us  go  back  to  Kasa's." 
I  refused,  and  insisted  on  our  proceeding  with  the  day's  work. 
I  might  better  have  yielded  to  their  request.  It  was  as  if  I 
were  under  an  Ancient  Mariner's  curse.  My  snake  was  as 
bad  as  his  albatross.  My  men  either  could  not  or  would  not. 
Everything  went  wrong.  They  worked  without  heart  and 
under  dread.  What  they  built  that  day  was  done  with  so 
many  mistakes  that  I  had  to  tear  it  down.  I  did  not  fully 
appreciate  at  that  time,  but  I  do  not  now  think  that  they 
were  intentionally  disobedient  or  recalcitrant.  Just  as  well 
compel  a  crew  of  ignorant  sailors  to  start  their  voyage  on  a 
Friday.  The  fear  of  ominous  birds  and  other  animals  is 
over  all  Africa.  In  Garenganze,  according  to  Arnot,  "many 
have  a  superstitious  dread  of  the  horned  night-owl.  Its  cry 
is  considered  an  evil  omen,  which  can  only  be  counteracted 
effectually  by  possessing  a  whistle  made  out  of  the  windpipe 
of  the  same  kind  of  bird. 


THE   FETICH   IN  CUSTOMS  199 

"Jackals,  wild  dogs,  also  are  very  much  disliked.  The 
weird  cry  of  one  of  these  animals  will  arouse  the  people  of  a 
whole  village,  who  will  rush  out  and  call  upon  the  spirit- 
possessed  animal  to  be  quiet  and  leave  them,  or  to  come  into 
the  village,  and  they  will  feed  and  satisfy  it. 

"  When  travelling,  they  are  careful  to  notice  the  direction 
this  animal  may  take.  Should  its  cry  come  from  the  direc- 
tion in  which  they  are  going,  they  will  not  venture  a  step 
farther  until  certain  divinations  have  been  performed  that 
they  may  learn  the  nature  of  the  calamity  about  to  befall 
them."i 

The  chameleon  is  an  object  of  dread  to  all  natives  wherever 
I  have  lived.  I  have  never  met,  even  among  the  most  civ- 
ilized, any  man  or  woman  who  would  touch  one.  For  friend- 
ship, or  to  make  a  sale,  they  would  bring  it  to  me  at  the 
end  of  a  long  stick,  in  ray  various  efforts  at  zoological  and 
other  collections. 

The  millepedes  they  also  dread.  I  handle  them  with  im- 
punity, and  my  little  daughter,  on  the  Ogowe,  in  1888  did 
so  too,  under  my  example.  But  her  young  Negro  com- 
panions soon  made  her  afraid.  True,  the  adult  millepede 
ejects  a  dark  liquid  which  stained  my  hands  and  which 
natives  said  was  poisonous  if  taken  internally.  (That  I 
never  tested.) 

A  native  friend,  one  of  my  Batanga  female  church-mem- 
bers, a  sincere  Christian,  of  bright  mind  but  limited  educa- 
tion, told  me  recently  (1902)  of  her  belief  in  the  chameleon 
as  a  bad  omen.  She  was  visiting  relatives  a  dozen  miles 
north.  Word  was  sent  her  to  return,  as  another  relative,  a 
woman  in  my  Bongaheli  village,  was  dangerously  ill.  Her 
host  told  her  to  go,  and  advised  her  to  gather  on  the  wa}^ 
a  certain  fern,  parasitic  on  trees,  that  is  used  medicinally 
in  the  disease  of  which  the  woman  was  sick.  My  friend 
started  on  her  day's  journey,  came  to  the  tree,  and  was  about 
to  pluck  the  ferns  when  she  observed  a  chameleon  clasping 
the   tree;  it  stood   still  and  looked  at  her.      She   instantly 

1  Aruot. 


200  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

left  the  tree,  abandoned  the  ferns,  went  back  to  tell  her  host 
that  a  chameleon  was  in  possession  of  them  and  had  stared 
at  her,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  gather  the  medicine,  for  she 
was  snre  their  relative  was  dead.  And  she  resumed  her 
journey,  coming  back  to  Bongaheli  in  order  to  attend  the 
mourning.  It  was  true;  the  relative  was  dead,  and  the 
mourning  had  begun.  Her  belief  was  not  shaken  when  I 
reminded  her  that  that  chameleon  was  only  doing  just  what 
all  chameleons  do  when  they  are  not  walking,  and  when  con- 
fronted by  any  one.  They  all  clasp  the  branch  on  which  they 
happen  to  be,  and  stare  at  their  supposed  pursuer,  if  unabl^ 
to  escape. 

Leopard  Fiends. 

Formerly  a  strange  superstition  said  that  on  him  who 
should  kill  a  leopard  there  would  come  an  evil  disease,  cura- 
ble only  by  ruinousl}^  expensive  ceremonies  of  three  weeks' 
duration,  under  the  direction  of  the  Ukuku  (Spirit)  Society. 
So  the  natives  allowed  the  greatest  ravages,  until  their  sheep, 
goats,  and  dogs  were  swept  away ;  and  were  aroused  to  self- 
defence  only  when  a  human  being  became  the  victim  of  the 
daring  beast.  The  carcass  of  a  leopard,  or  even  the  bones  of 
one  long  dead,  were  not  to  be  touched. 

While  I  was  living  at  Benita,  about  1869,  the  losses  by 
leopards  became  so  great  that,  in  desperation,  some  of  the 
braver  young  men,  under  my  encouragement,  determined 
that  the  depredator  should  be  caught.  (Nothing  was  just 
then  said  about  what  should  be  done  with  it  when  caught.) 
A  trap  was  built  in  one  of  the  villages,  and  baited  with  a 
live  goat.  Soon  a  leopard  was  entrapped.  What  to  do  with 
it  was  then  the  question.  Some  favored  leaving  it  alone  till 
they  could  ask  permission  of  Ukuku  to  kill  it,  even  if  they 
had  to  pay  heavily  for  the  permission.  Others,  who  had 
heard  me  laugh  at  their  superstition,  proposed  that  I  should 
be  asked  to  shoot  it.  They  came  at  night;  I  willingly  and 
promptly  went  with  my  Winchester  repeating  rifle,  which 
could  easily  be  thrust  into  the  chinks  between  the  logs  of 


THE   FETICH    IN   CUSTOMS  201 

wliicli  the  trap  was  built.  When  the  animal  was  shot,  came 
the  question,  Who  should  remove  it?  None  would  touch  it. 
Among  my  employees  were  two  young  men  of  another  tribe 
with  whom  that  superstition  did  not  exist.  With  their  aid 
I  lifted  the  circass  upon  a  wheelbarrow,  and  took  it  to  a 
place  where  I  could  comfortably  skin  it.  Some  objected  to  my 
retaining  the  skin.  They  wanted  the  whole  animal  put  out 
of  sight.  But  the  majority  agreed  that  the  skin  should  be 
my  compensation  for  my  rifle's  service.  Then  a  deputation 
carefully  followed  me  out  on  the  prairie,  to  see  that  the 
spot  where  the  skinning  was  to  be  done  was  not  near  any  of 
their  frequented  paths.  After  the  flaying  was  complete,  what 
was  best  to  do  with  the  carcass  ?  The  majority  objected  to 
its  being  buried,  fearing  to  tread  over  its  grave.  So  I  sent 
the  two  young  men  in  a  canoe,  to  sink  the  carcass  out  in  the 
river's  mouth  toward  the  sea.  Even  then  there  were  those 
who  for  two  weeks  afterward  would  eat  no  fish  caught  in 
the  river. 

With  this  fear  of  the  leopard  was  united  a  superstition 
similar  to  that  of  the  "•  wehr-wolf  "  of  Germany,  viz.^  a  belief 
in  the  power  of  human  metamorphosis  into  a  leopard.  The 
natives  had  learned,  from  foreigners  who  were  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  there  are  no  tigers  in  Africa,  to  call  this  leopard 
fiend  a  "man-tiger."  They  got  their  fears  still  more  mixed 
by  a  belief  in  a  third  superstition,  viz.^  that  sometimes  the 
dead  returned  to  life  and  committed  depredations.  This 
belief  was  not  simply  that  disembodied  spirits  (mekuku)  re- 
turned, but  that  the  entire  person,  soul  and  body  (ilina  na 
nj^olo),  rose  temporarily  from  the  grave,  with  a  few  changes 
(among  the  rest,  that  the  feet  were  webbed).  Such  a  being, 
as  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  was  called  "Uvengwa." 
At  one  time,  while  I  was  at  Benito,  intense  excitement  pre- 
vailed in  the  community:  doors  and  shutters  were  violently 
rattled  at  night;  marks  of  leopard's  claws  scratched  door- 
posts; their  tracks  lay  on  every  path;  women  and  children 
in  lonely  places  saw  their  flitting  forms,  in  the  dark  were 
knocked  down  by  their  spring,  or  heard  their  grow?   '\  the 


202  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

thickets.  It  was  difficult  to  decide,  in  hearing  these  reports, 
whether  it  was  a  real  leopard,  a  leopard  fiend,  or  only  an 
uvengwa.  To  native  fear,  they  were  practically  the  same. 
1  felt  certain  that  the  uvengwa  was  a  thief  disguised  in  a 
leopard  skin.  Under  such  disguise  murders  were  sometimes 
committed.  By  bending  my  thumb  and  fingers  into  a  semi- 
closed  fist,  I  could  make  an  impression  in  the  sand  that 
exactly  resembled  a  leopard's  track ;  and  this  confirmed  my 
conclusions  as  to  the  real  cause  of  the  phenomenon. 

The  pioneer  of  the  Gabun  Mission,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L. 
Wilson,  in  1842,  found  the  wehr-wolf  superstition  preva- 
lent among  all  the  tribes  of  Southern  Guinea.  The  leopard 
"is  invested  with  more  terror  than  it  otherwise  would  have, 
by  a  superstitious  apprehension  on  the  part  of  the  natives, 
that  wicked  men  frequently  metamorphose  themselves  into 
leopards  and  commit  all  sorts  of  depredations,  without  the 
liability  or  possibility  of  being  killed.  The  real  leopard  is 
emboldened  by  impunity,  and  often  becomes  a  terrible  scourge 
to  the  village  he  infests.  I  have  known  large  villages  to  be 
abandoned  by  their  inhabitants,  because  they  were  afraid 
to  attack  these  animals  on  account  of  their  supposed  super- 
natural powers." 

At  Gabun,  about  1865,  there  still  remained  a  jungle 
on  one  side  of  the  public  road  that  constituted  the  one 
sti'cet  of  the  town  of  Libreville,  as  it  followed  the  curve  of 
the  bay  for  three  miles.  There  were  frequent  alarms  and 
occasional  murders  along  lonely  parts  of  that  road.  The 
natives  believed  that  the  leoj)ard  fiend  was  a  beast;  the 
French  commandant  believed  it  was  a  human  being.  He 
had  the  jungle  cut  away.  Since  then,  no  mangled  bodies 
have  been  found  there. 

Among  the  Garenganze  people,  in  1884,  Mr.  Arnot  often 
chid  them  "for  their  want  of  bravery  in  not  hunting  down 
the  many  wild  animals  that  prey  around  their  towns,  carry- 
ing off  the  sick  people,  and  frequently  attacking  and  seizing 
solitary  strangers.  They  excused  themselves  by  explaining 
that  these  wild   animals  are  really  '  men  of  other  tribes,' 


THE    FETICH   IN   CUSTOMS  203 

turned,  by  the  magic  power  they  possess,  into  the  form  of 
lions,  panthers,  or  leopards,  who  prowl  about  to  take  ven- 
geance on  those  against  whom  they  are  embittered.  In  de- 
fending this  absurd  theory,  one  man  said  it  was  not  possible 
for  a  Luba  and  a  Lamba  man  to  go  out  into  the  country 
together  without  one  stealing  a  march  on  his  neighbor,  get- 
ting out  of  sight,  and  returning  again  in  the  form  of  a  lion 
or  leopard,  and  devouring  his  travelling  companion.  Such 
things,  they  say,  are  of  daily  occurrence  amongst  them ;  and 
this  foolish  superstition  leads  them  not  only  to  tolerate  the 
wild  animals  about,  but  almost  to  hold  them  sacred." 

This  particular  superstition  still  exists  extensively.  As 
late  as  1898,  it  is  stated  of  the  Barotse  of  Southeast  Africa: 
"  They  believe  that  at  times  both  living  and  dead  persons  can 
change  themselves  into  animals,  either  to  execute  some  ven- 
geance or  to  procure  something  that  they  wish  for:  thus  a 
man  will  change  himself  into  a  hj'ena  or  a  lion  in  order  to 
steal  a  sheep,  and  make  a  good  meal  off  it;  into  a  serpent,  to 
avenge  himself  on  some  enemy.  At  other  times,  if  they  see 
a  serpent,  it  is  one  of  the  '  Matotela  '  or  slave  tribe,  which 
has  thus  transformed  himself  to  take  some  vengeance  on  the 
Barotse."  i 

Luck. 

There  exists  a  custom,  even  among  the  civilized,  for  the 
seller  of  an  article  to  hold  back  a  small  portion  after  his 
price  has  been  paid.  When  I  first  met  with  this  custom,  I 
was  indignant  at  what  seemed  like  stealing ;  and  yet  it  was 
so  open,  and  without  any  attempt  at  concealment,  that  I  was 
amazed.  One  who  brought  for  sale  a  bunch  of  plantains 
twisted  off  and  took  away  one  of  its  "fingers."  Another 
who  had  just  been  paid  for  a  peck  of  sweet  potatoes  deliber- 
ately picks  off  one  tuber.  Another  who  brought  a  gazelle 
for  sale  would  not  complete  the  bargain  till  I  had  consented 
that  he  might  remove  the  gall-bladder  and  a  portion  of  the 
liver.  I  learned  that  all  these  were  for  "luck":  in  order 
that  the  garden  whence  came  that  plantain  bunch  or  potato 

1  Decle 


204  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

should  be  blessed  with  abundance;  and  the  hunter,  that  he 
might  be  successful  in  his  next  hunt.  The  gazelle  is  credited 
with  being  a  very  artful  animal,  the  cunning  being  located 
especially  in  the  liver. 

One  might  ask  why,  if  those  pieces  are  so  needed  for  luck, 
the  owner  did  not  take  them  before  selling,  and  while  they 
were  still  his  own  and  under  his  entire  control.  I  do  not 
know  their  exact  thought;  but  the  statement  was  that  the 
chances  of  good  luck  were  greater  if  the  pieces  of  plantain, 
potato,  meat,  etc.  were  abstracted  after  the  article  had  ac- 
tually passed  out  of  the  seller's  possession. 

On  the  Ogowe,  at  Lake  Azyingo,  in  1874,  I  was  present 
at  the  cutting  up  of  a  female  hippopotamus  which  a  hunter 
had  killed  the  night  before.  By  favor  of  the  native  Ajumba 
chief,  Anege,  I  was  allowed  to  see  the  ceremonies.  They 
were  many;  of  most  of  them  I  did  not  understand  the  sig- 
nificance ;  and  the  people  were  loath  to  tell  me,  lest  I  should 
in  some  way  counteract  them.  Even  my  presence  was  ob- 
jected to  by  the  mother  of  the  hunter  (he,  however,  was 
willing). 

After  the  animal  had  been  decapitated,  and  its  quarters 
and  bowels  removed,  the  hunter,  naked,  stepped  into  the 
hollow  of  the  ribs,  and  kneeling  in  the  bloody  pool  contained 
in  that  hollow,  bathed  his  entire  body  with  that  mixture  of 
blood  and  excreta,  at  the  same  time  praying  the  life-spirit  of 
the  hippo  that  it  would  bear  him  no  ill-will  for  having  killed 
it,  and  thus  cut  it  off  from  future  maternity;  and  not  to 
incense  other  hippopotami  that  they  should  attack  his  canoe 
in  revenge.  (Hippos  are  amphibians,  but  are  generally  killed 
in  the  water.)  He  kept  choice  parts  of  the  flesh  to  incor- 
porate into  his  luck  fetich. 

Mr.  Arnot  mentions  the  same  custom  in  Garenganze: 
"  One  morning  I  shot  a  hyena  in  my  yard.  The  chief  sent 
up  one  of  his  executioners  to  cut  off  its  nose  and  the  tip  of 
its  tail,  and  to  extract  a  little  bit  of  brain  from  the  skull. 
'J'he  man  informed  me  that  these  parts  are  very  serviceable 
to  elephant  hunters,  as  securing  for  them  the  cunning,  tact. 


THE    FETICH   IN   CUSTOMS  205 

and  power  to  become  invisible,  which  the  hyena  is  supposed 
to  possess.  I  suppose  that  the  brain  would  represent  the 
cunning,  the  nose  the  tact,  and  the  tip  of  the  tail  the  van- 
ishing quality."  The  stomach  of  the  hyena  is  valued  by 
the  Ovimbundu  (of  Southwest  Africa)  as  a  cure  for  apoplexy. 

Twins. 

Mr.  Arnot  states  that  in  Garenganze  "cases  of  infanticide 
are  very  rare.  Twins,  strange  to  say,  are  not  only  allowed 
to  live,  but  the  people  delight  in  them."  Though  they  are 
not  regarded  as  monstrosities  deserving  death,  as  among  the 
Calabar  people  on  the  West  Coast,  it  is  nevertheless  con- 
sidered necessary  that  certain  preservative  ceremonies  should 
be  performed  on  the  infants  and  their  parents. 

Mr.  Swan,  an  associate  of  Mr.  Arnot,  describes  a  cere- 
mony he  was  unexpectedly  made  to  share  in  while  on  a 
visit  to  the  native  king  Msidi:  "My  attention  was  drawn 
to  a  crowd  of  folk,  mostly  women,  who  approached,  singing 
and  ringing  a  kind  of  bell.  They  formed  in  lines  opposite 
to  us.  In  front  of  the  rest  were  a  man  and  woman,  each 
holding  a  child  not  more  than  a  few  days  old.  I  learned 
that  the  little  ones  were  twins,  the  man  and  woman  holding 
them  being  the  happy  parents,  who  had  come  to  present  their 
offspring  to  the  king.  They  wore  nothing  but  a  few  leaves 
about  their  loins,  —  a  hint  to  Msidi,  I  suppose,  that  they 
would  like  some  cloth. 

"  After  chanting  a  little,  an  elderly  woman  came  forward, 
with  a  dish  in  her  left  hand  and  an  antelope's  tail  in  her 
right.  When  she  reached  Msidi,  I  was  astonished  at  her 
dipping  the  tail  in  the  dish  and  dashing  the  liquid  over  his 
face.  Msidi's  wife  had  a  like  dose.  But  my  surprise  in- 
creased when  she  came  to  us  and  gave  us  a  share.  What 
was  in  the  dish  I  cannot  say,  but  it  struck  me  as  possessing 
a  very  disagreeable  odor.  This  discourteous  creature  was 
the  Ocimbanda  (fetich  doctor).  She  did  not  cease  her  dous- 
ing work  till  she  had  favored  all  sitting  around.  The  king 
then  went  into  the  house,  and  his  wife  came  out  with  some 


206  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

clotb,  which  she  tied  around  the  mother's  waist;  and  then  a 
piece  of  cloth  was  given  to  the  husband.  The  friends  had 
brought  some  native  beer;  and  when  Msidi  came  out,  he 
went  to  one  of  the  pots,  filled  his  mouth,  spouting  the  beer 
in  his  wife's  face;  she  did  the  same  to  him,  after  which  the 
spouting  became  general.  .  .  .  They  told  me  it  was  their 
custom  to  act  thus  when  twins  are  born." 

In  the  Benga  tribe,  thirty-five  years  ago,  I  observed  that  if 
one  of  a  pair  of  twins  died,  a  wooden  image  was  substituted 
for  it  on  the  bed  or  in  the  cradle -box,  alongside  of  the  living 
child.  I  strongly  suspected  Animism  in  the  custom;  but 
some  Christians  explained  that  the  image  was  only  a  toy,  so 
that  the  living  babe  should  not  miss  the  presence  of  an  object 
resembling  its  mate. 

Names  of  twins  are  always  the  same,  in  the  same  cog- 
nate tribes.  In  Benga  they  are  always  Ivaha  (a  wish)  and 
Ayenwe  (unseen).  These  names  are  given  irrespective  of 
sex.  But  not  every  man  or  woman  whom  one  may  meet 
with  these  names  is  necessarily  a  twin.  They  may  have 
inherited  the  name  from  ancestors  who  were  twins. 

All  over  Africa  the  birth  of  twins  is  a  notable  event,  but 
noted  for  very  different  reasons  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  In  Calabar  they  are  dreaded  as  an  evil  omen,  and 
until  recently  were  immediately  put  to  death,  and  the  mother 
driven  from  the  village  to  live  alone  in  the  forest  as  a  pun- 
ishment for  having  brought  this  evil  on  her  people. 

In  other  parts,  as  in  the  Gabun  country,  where  they  are 
welcomed,  it  is  nevertheless  considered  necessary  to  have 
special  ceremonies  performed  for  the  safety  of  their  lives, 
or,  if  they  die,  to  prevent  further  evil. 

In  the  Egba  tribes  of  the  Yoruba  country  they  become 
objects  of  worship.  As  in  other  parts  of  Africa  where  twins 
are  preserved,  they  are  given  twin  names ;  which,  of  course, 
differ  in  different  languages.  Among  the  Egbas  the  first- 
born is  Taiwo,  i.  e.,  "  the  first  to  taste  the  world,"  and  the 
other  Kehende,  i.  e.,  "  the  one  who  comes  last."  ^  About  eight 
1  See  "  Niger  and  Yoruba  Notes." 


THE   FETICH   IN   CUSTOMS  20T 

days  after  their  birth,  or  as  soon  as  the  parents  have  the 
money  for  the  sacrificial  feast,  they  invite  all  relatives  on 
both  sides,  neighbors  and  friends  together.  Various  kinds  of 
food  are  prepared,  consisting  chiefly  of  beans  and  yams.  A 
little  of  each  kind  of  food  is  set  apart  with  some  palm-oil 
thrown  upon  it,  and  the  small  native  plates  or  basins  contain- 
ing it  are  set  before  the  children  in  their  cradle.  They  are 
tlien  invoked  to  protect  their  mother  from  sickness,  to  pity 
their  parents  and  remain  with  them,  to  watch  over  them  at 
iill  times.  I  quote  in  this  comiection  the  following  from  a 
West  African  newspaper: 

"  After  the  ceremony  an  elderly  man  or  woman  who  has 
been  a  twin  is  called  upon  to  split  the  kola  nuts,  in  order 
to  find  out  whether  the  children  will  live  or  die.  This  is 
their  way  of  asking  the  god  or  goddess  to  answer  their  re- 
quests (and  it  is  singular  that  this  throwing  of  kolas  may  be 
done  repeatedly  until  the  reply  is  favorable  to  tlie  in([uirer). 
Thus :  if  a  kola  nut  is  split  into  four  parts  in  throwing 
it  down,  they  say,  "  You  Idol,  please  foretell  if  tlie  children 
will  live  long  or  die."  If  all  the  four  pieces  of  the  kola 
fall  fiat  on  their  backs,  or  all  flat  with  their  faces  to  the 
ground,  or  if  two  of  them  fall  with  their  faces  downward 
and  the  other  two  upward,  then  in  each  of  those  cases  the 
reply  is  favorable,  and  it  means  they  will  live  long  and  not 
die.  But  if  three  pieces  of  the  kola  should  turn  their  faces  to 
the  ground  and  only  one  fall  flat  on  its  back,  or  if  the  three 
pieces  should  turn  their  faces  upward  and  only  one  downward, 
the  reply  is  unfavorable,  and  it  means  that  the  children  will 
die  before  long.  In  such  cases  they  continue  throwing  the 
kola  nut  indefinitely  until  they  obtain  their  wish ;  or,  in  rare 
cases  of  total  failure,  the  subject  of  inquiry  is  reserved  till  a 
future  time,  when  they  hope  the  idol  may  speak  more  favorably. 
Thus,  twin  children  are  worshipped  every  month. 

"In  some  cases,  where  the  parents  have  the  means,  an  in- 
vitation goes  round  to  as  many  twins  as  they  can  get  to  par- 
take of  the  sacrificial  feasts.  Of  course,  the  people  enjoy 
themselves  at  the  feast. 


208  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

"  The  twins  have  everything  in  common  ;  they  eat  the  same 
kind  of  food  and  wear  the  same  dress.  If  one  of  them  should 
die,  the  mother  is  bound  to  make  a  wooden  image  to  repre- 
sent the  dead  child.  This  kind  of  image  is  generally  about  a 
foot  in  length,  and  is  made  of  Ire  wood,  which  is  flexible  and 
durable.  It  is  carved  in  such  a  manner  as  to  represent  the 
human  anatomy." 

These  images,  substitute  for  a  dead  twin,  are  used  very 
extensively  among  all  the  tribes  of  Africa.  Various  reasons 
are  given  for  their  use :  that  the  surviving  twin  shall  not  be 
lonely ;  that  the  departed  one  may  be  sure  it  is  not  forgotten ; 
and  other  reasons.  The  images  are  retained  as  family  fetiches, 
to  ward  off  evil  from  the  mother. 

"  If  both  children  should  die,  the  mother  must  have  two 
wooden  images,  and  regard  them  as  her  living  children ;  she 
worships  them  every  morning  by  splitting  kola  nuts  and 
throwing  down  a  few  drops  of  palm-oil  before  them.  Of 
course,  the  occasional  feasts  follow  in  their  due  course,  and 
as  oftentimes  as  she  may  happen  to  see  them  in  her  dreams. 

"  If  they  sliould  live,  and  both  are  males,  they  make  engage- 
ments and  marry  at  the  same  time.  If  one  is  male,  and  the 
other  is  female,  their  dowry  must  be  given  the  same  day ; 
the  parents  believe  that  if  things  done  for  them  are  not  alike 
or  do  not  go  together,  one  will  soon  die."  ^ 

Customs  of  Speech. 

Superstition  mingles  in  customs  of  speech.  There  is  the 
custom  of  Kombo,  existing  to-day.  Something  about  the  act 
of  sneezing  is  considered  uncanny.  A  phrase  or  a  cabalistic 
word,  intended  as  an  adjuration  or  a  protestation  in  the  nature 
of  a  prayer  for  protection  or  blessing,  is  very  commonly  ejacu- 
lated by  one  who  sneezes  and  sometimes  when  one  stumbles. 
(In  the  old  despotic  days  of  native  kings,  in  the  Benito  region, 
if  a  king,  on  first  emerging  from  his  house  in  the  morning, 
should  happen  to  stumble,  he  would  order  the  nearest  person 
in  sight  to  be  killed.)     That  word  is  uttered  by  an  adult  for 

1  From  a  West  African  newspaper. 


THE   FETICH   IN   CUSTOMS  200 

himself,  by  a  parent  or  other  relative  for  an  infant  child.  It 
may  be  an  archaism  whose  meaning  has  been  forgotten.  Gen- 
erally the  Kombo  is  an  epigrammatic  phrase  invented  by  the 
individual  himself,  and  to  be  used  only  by  him. 

Sometimes,  instead  of  a  phrase,  the  single  word  "  Kombo  !  " 
as  representing  the  custom,  is  uttered. 

Some  forty  years  ago  the  ejaculation,  before  the  invariable 
"  Mbolo  "  salutation  was  uttered,  that  was  used  by  visitors  to 
the  Mpongwe  king  on  the  south  side  of  the  Gabun  estuary, 
was,  "  What  evil  law  has  God  made  ?  "  The  response  was, 
"  Death ! "  Little  as  the  heathen  natives  liked  to  talk  of 
death,  their  use  of  that  word  to  their  king  was  in  the  nature 
of  a  good  wish  that  he  might  escape  the  universal  law.  And 
the  "  Mbolo !  "  (gray  hairs)  that  followed  was  a  wish  that  he 
might  live  to  have  gray  hairs. 

His  son,  an  educated  man  and  a  nominal  Romanist,  is  now 
saluted  quite  as  formally,  but  the  ejaculation  has  been  changed 
to  a  more  respectful  and  Christian  recognition  of  God. 

Oaths. 

Blasphemy  of  the  Divine  name,  so  fearfully  common  in 
professedly  Christian  countries,  is  almost  unknown  to  the 
African  heathen.  Though  the  native  name  for  God,  Any- 
ambe,  is  improperly  used  in  names  of  persons  (which  is  not 
intended  for  disrespect),  it  is  not  often  actually  blasphemed. 
An  equivalent  blasphemy,  is  occasionally  practised  in  the  mis- 
use of  the  name  of  their  great  and  sacred  spirit-society.  In 
the  Bensfa  tribe  "Saba?"  and  "Sabali?"  used  interroga- 
tively,  mean  only  "True?"  "Is  that  so?";  but,  used  posi- 
tively, they  are  of  the  nature  of  an  oath,  especially  when 
the  society's  name  (Ukuk)  was  added :  "  Saba  n'  Ukuku  " 
(True  !  by  Ukuk  !). 

On  the  Ogowe  River,  in  the  Galwa  tribe,  the  name  of  that 
society  was  Isyoga,  more  commonly  spoken  of  as  Yasi.  In 
the  initiation  into  it  the  neophytes  were  taught  a  long  and 
very  solemn  adjuration,  that  could  be  uttered  only  among  the 
initiated,  as  an  oath;   but  they  were  allowed  commonly  to 

U 


210  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

use  simply  its  title  "  Yasi,"  the  utterance  of  that  one  word 
being  accompanied  by  a  downward  sweep  of  the  right  hand 
over  the  left  arm  from  slioulder  to  hand.  It  was  not  per- 
mitted to  women  to  speak  this  word. 

In  no  tribes  with  which  I  have  lived  was  this  "  By-the- 
Spirit"  oath  used  so  much  as  among  the  Galwa  of  the 
Ogowe.  It  became  monotonously  frequent,  in  and  out  of 
season,  in  all  conversations  and  on  the  slightest  assertion 
or  the  simplest  excitement. 

I  became  very  tired  of  "  Yasi !  Yasi !  Yasi ! "  and  that 
sweep  of  the  right  hand,  for  the  doing  of  wliich  the  canoe 
paddle  or  a  tool  was  laid  down.  And,  by  the  way,  the  more 
of  a  liar  a  man  was,  the  more  frequent  and  vociferous  was 
he  in  his  persistent  use  of  "  By  Yasi ! " 

Totem  Worship. 

Totem  worship  is  found  in  Africa,  though  nothing  at  all  to 
the  extent  to  which  it  existed  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
United  States,  and  especially  Alaska. 

In  Southern  Africa  it  exists  among  the  Bechuanas  (who, 
however,  are  not  pure  Bantu)  ;  not  in  the  form  of  carving 
and  setting  up  poles  in  their  villages,  but  in  the  respect  which 
different  clans  give  to  certain  animals,  e.g.,  one  clan  being 
known  as  "  buffalo-men,"  another  as  "  lion-men,"  a  third  as 
"  crocodile-men,"  and  so  forth.  To  each  clan  its  totem 
animal  is  sacred,  and  they  will  not  eat  of  its  flesh.  In  some 
parts  this  sanctity  is  regarded  as  so  great  that  actual  prayer 
and  sacrifice  are  made  to  it.  But  in  most  of  the  Bantu  tribes 
this  totem  idea  does  not  exist  as  a  worship.  Indeed,  the 
animal  (or  part  of  an  animal)  is  not  sacred  to  an  entire  clan, 
but  only  to  individuals,  for  whom  it  is  chosen  on  some  special 
occasion ;  and  its  use  is  prohibited  only  to  that  individual. 
Only  in  the  sense  that  it  may  not  be  used  for  common  pur- 
poses is  it  "  sacred  "  or  "  holy  "  to  him. 

Taboo. 

"  Taboo"  is  a  Polynesian  term,  and  indicates  that  which  man 
must  not  touch  because  it  belongs  to  a  deity.    The  god's  land 


THE   FETICH  IN   CUSTOMS  211 

must  not  be  trodden,  the  animal  dedicated  to  the  god  must 
not  be  eaten,  the  cliief  wlio  represents  the  god  must  not  be 
lightly  treated  or  spoken  of.  These  are  examples  of  taboo 
where  the  inviolable  object  or  person  belongs  to  a  good  god, 
and  where  the  taboo  corresponds  exactly  with  the  rule  of  holi- 
ness. But  instances  are  still  more  numerous,  among  savages, 
of  taboo  attaching  to  an  object  because  it  is  connected  with  a 
malignant  power.  The  savage  is  surrounded  on  every  side 
by  such  prohibitions ;  there  is  danger  at  every  step  that  he 
may  touch  on  what  is  forbidden  to  him,  and  draw  down  on 
Jiimself  unforeseen  penalties."  ^ 

This  idea  exists  very  largely  in  the  Gabun  and  Loango 
coasts  :  as  described  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  custom  is  there 
called  "  orunda  "  ;  e.g.^  such  and  such  an  animal  (or  part  of  an 
animal)  is  "  orunda,"  or  taboo,  to  such  and  such  a  person. 

The  Portuguese  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  to  the  King- 
dom of  Kongo,  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
found  this  custom  "  of  interdicting  to  every  person  at  their 
birth  some  one  article  of  food,  which  they  were  not  through 
life,  upon  any  consideration,  to  put  into  their  mouths.  This 
practice  was  regarded  [by  those  Roman  Catholic  priests]  as 
specially  heathenish,  and  was  unconditionally  "  forbidden. 

Explanation  may  here  be  found  why  a  church  which  two  hun- 
dred years  ago  had  baptized  members  by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands, with  large  churches,  fine  cathedrals,  schools,  colleges, 
and  political  backing,  and  no  other  form  of  Christianity  to  com- 
pete with  it,  shows  in  Kongo  to-day  no  results  in  the  matters 
of  civilization,  education,  morality,  or  pure  religion.  Its  bap- 
tism was  only  an  outward  one,  the  heathen  native  gladly 
accepting  it  as  a  powerful  charm.  For  each  and  all  his 
heathen  fetiches  the  priest  simply  substituted  a  Roman 
Catholic  relic.  The  ignorant  African,  while  he  learned  to 
bow  to  the  Virgin,  kept  on  worshipping  also  fetich.  The 
Virgin  was  only  just  another  fetich.  The  Roman  Catholic 
priests  were  to  liim  only  another  set  of  powerful  fetich 
doctors.     They  commanded  that,  instead  of  the  orunda,  "  the 

1  Menzies,  History  of  Religion,  p.  71. 


212  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

parents  should  enjoin  their  children  to  observe  some  particular 
devotion,  such  as  to  repeat  many  times  a  day  the  rosary  or  the 
crown,  in  honor  of  the  Virgin ;  to  fast  on  Saturdays  ;  to  eat 
no  flesh  on  Wednesdays ;  and  such  other  things  as  are  used 
among  Christians." 

A  smiilar  substitution  was  made  in  the  case  of  a  supersti- 
tion of  the  Kongo  country  which  exists  universally  among  all 
African  tribes  to-day,  viz.,  "to  bind  a  cord  of  some  kind 
around  the  body  of  every  new-born  infant,  to  which  were 
fastened  the  bones  and  teeth  of  certain  kinds  of  wild  ani- 
mals." In  place  of  this,  the  Roman  Catholic  records  enjoin 
"  that  all  mothers  should  make  the  cords  with  which  they 
bound  their  infants,  of  palm-leaves  that  had  been  consecrated 
on  Palm  Sunday,  and,  moreover,  guard  them  well  with  other 
such  relics  as  we  are  accustomed  to  use  at  the  time  of 
baptism." 

Thus  the  heathen,  in  becoming  a  baptized  "  Christian," 
left  behind  him  only  the  name  of  his  fetich  ceremonies. 
Some  new  and  professedly  more  powerful  ones  were  given 
him,  which  were  called  by  Christian  names,  but  which  very 
much  resembled  what  he  had  been  using  all  his  life.  His 
"conversion"  caused  no  jar  to  his  old  beliefs,  nor  change  in 
its  practice,  except  that  the  new  fetich  was  worshipped  in  a 
cathedral  and  before  a  bedizened  altar. 

Baptism. 

Forty  years  ago,  on  Corisco  Island,  I  found  the  remains  of 
a  custom  which  resembled  baptism.^  Before  that  time  it 
was  very  prevalent  in  other  parts  of  the  Gabun  country, 
whose  people  probably  had  derived  it,  like  their  circum- 
cision, from  East  Africa  and  from  Jewish  traditions.  As 
described  at  that  time,  "a  public  crier  announces  the  birth, 
and  claims  for  the  child  a  name  and  place  among  the  living. 
Some  one  else,  in  a  distant  part  of  the  village,  acknowledges 
the  fact,  and  promises,  on  the-  part  of  the  people,  that  the 

1  See  an  illustration  of  it  on  p.  102  of  my  "Crowned  in  Palm-Land";  an 
infant  is  lying  on  a  plantain  leaf  in  the  street. 


THE    FETICH    IN    CUSTOMS  213 

new-born  babe  shall  be  received  into  the  community,  and 
have  all  the  rights  and  immunities  pertaining  to  the  rest  of 
the  people.  The  population  then  assemble  in  the  street,  and 
the  new-born  babe  is  brought  out  and  exposed  to  public  view. 
A  basin  of  water  is  provided,  and  the  headman  of  the  village 
or  family  sprinkles  water  upon  it,  giving  it  a  name,  and 
invoking  a  blessing  upon  it,  such  as,  that  it  may  have  health, 
grow  up  to  manhood  or  womanhood,  have  a  numerous  prog- 
eny, possess  much  riches,  etc."  ^  The  circumcision  of  the 
child  is  performed  some  years  later. 

Spitting. 

The  same  Benga  word,  "  tuwaka,"  to  spit,  is  one  of  the  two 
words  which  mean  also  "  to  bless."  In  pronouncing  a  bless- 
ing there  is  a  violent  expulsion  of  breath,  the  hand  or  head  of 
the  one  blessed  being  held  so  near  the  face  of  the  one  blessing 
that  sometimes  in  the  act  spittle  is  actually  expelled  upon  him. 

This  blessing  superstition  exists  among  the  Barotse  of 
South  Africa  (whose  dialect  is  remarkably  like  the  Benga). 
"  Relatives  take  leave  of  each  other  with  elaborate  ceremony. 
They  spit  upon  each  other's  faces  and  heads,  or,  rather, 
pretend  to  do  so,  for  they  do  not  actually  emit  saliva.  They 
also  pick  up  blades  of  grass,  spit  upon  them,  and  stick  them 
about  the  beloved  head.  They  also  spit  on  the  hands :  all 
this  is  done  to  warn  off  evil  spirits.  Spittle  also  acts  as  a 
kind  of  taboo.  When  they  do  not  want  a  thing  touched, 
they  spit  on  straws,  and  stick  them  all  about  the  object."  ^ 

Notice  of  CnrLDEEisr. 

Recently  (1903),  in  passing  through  a  street  of  Libreville, 
I  saw  several  women  sitting  on  the  clay  floor  of  the  wide 
veranda  of  a  house.  In  their  arms  or  playing  on  the  ground 
were  a  number  of  children.  I  was  attracted  by  their  gambols, 
and  stopped  on  my  way,  and  having  saluted  the  mothers,  I 
began  to  notice  the  children.     The  women  knew  me  by  sight, 

1  Wilson,  Western  Africa.  ^  Declfe. 


214  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

but  I  was  a  stranger  to  most  of  them.  I  thought  they  would 
be  pleased  by  attention  to  their  children.  There  were  seven 
of  them  ;  and  I  exclaimed,  "  Oh !  so  many  children  !  "  And 
I  began  counting  them,  "  One,  two,  three,  four  —  "  But  I 
was  interrupted  by  a  chorus  from  the  mothers,  of  "  No  !  no  ! 
no  !  Stop  !  That  is  not  good  !  The  spirits  will  hear  you  tell- 
ing how  many  there  are,  and  they  will  come  and  take  some 
away!"  They  were  quite  vexed  at  me.  But  I  could  not 
understand  why,  if  spirits  can  see,  they  would  not  know 
the  number  without  hearing  my  count.  Perhaps  my  enthu- 
siastic counting  brought  the  number  more  obviously  to  the 
attention  of  the  surrounding  spirits. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

FETICH— ITS   RELATION  TO   THE   FUTURE   LIFE  — 
CEREMONIES    AT   DEATHS   AND   FUNERALS 

WHEN  a  heathen  Negro  is  sick,  the  first  tiling  done,  just 
as  in  civihzecl  lands,  is  to  call  tlie  "doctor,"  who  is 
to  find  out  what  is  the  particular  kind  of  spirit  that,  by 
invading  the  patient's  body,  has  caused  the  sickness. 

This  diagnosis  is  not  made  by  an  examination  and  comparison 
of  the  physical  and  mental  symptoms,  but  by  drum,  dance, 
frenzied  song,  mirror,  fumes  of  drugs,  consultation  of  relics, 
and  conversation  with  the  spirit  itself.  Next,  as  also  in  civ- 
ilized lands,  must  be  decided  the  ceremony  particular  to  that 
spirit,  and  the  vegetable  and  mineral  substances  supposed  to 
be  either  pleasing  or  offensive  to  it.  If  all  those  cannot  be 
obtained,  the  patient  must  die  ;  the  assumption  probably  being 
that  some  unknown  person  is  antagonizing  the  "  doctor  "  with 
arts  of  sorcery. 

Fearing  this,  all  the  family  relatives  and  friends  come,  hav- 
ing been  informed  by  a  messenger  of  the  state  of  the  case. 
They  speak  to  and  try  to  comfort  the  sick,  as  would  be  done 
in  civilization.  But  to  believers  in  fetich  their  coming  means 
more  than  that.  They  have  come  from  distant  places  as  soon 
as  the  news  had  spread  that  their  relative  was  seriously  ill, 
without  waiting  for  summons.  Their  coming  is,  indeed,  a 
necessary  mark  of  respect  for  the  sick ;  but  it  may  happen, 
too,  in  case  of  the  sick  man's  dying,  that  it  would  be  a  proof 
for  them  of  their  innocence  if  a  charge  should  come  up  of 
witchcraft  as  the  cause  of  death.  The  neglect  to  make  this 
prompt  visit  of  condolence  would  be  resented  by  the  sick 
should  he  recover,  or,  in  case  of  his  death,  in  the  days  when 
witchcraft  arts  were  more  common,  would  have  been  held  as 


216  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

a  proof  that  the  absentee  had  purposely  absented  himself, 
under  a  sense  of  guilt. 

In  the  sick  man's  village  there  already  has  been  a  slight 
wailing  the  while  that  he  is  dying.  Before  life  is  extinct,  and 
while  yet  the  sick  may  still  be  conscious  though  speechless,  a 
low  wail  of  mourning  is  raised  by  the  female  relatives  who 
have  gathered  in  the  room. 

These  visitors  have  sat  quietly  in  the  sick-room  while  the 
patient  was  still  conscious.  To  a  foreigner  that  quiet  is  very 
strange  in  its  oppressive  silence  and  in  the  stolidity  of  faces 
(at  other  times  expressive),  whose  very  reason  for  being  pres- 
ent is  supposed  to  be  the  expression  of  sympathy.  Only  a 
few  assist  in  the  making  of  food  or  medicine  for  the  patient, 
even  when  the  medicines  are  not  fetich.  All  the  others  are 
spectators,  smoking,  lounging,  dozing,  or,  if  conversing,  speak- 
ing in  a  low  tone.  At  the  first  report  that  death  has  actually 
come,  the  women  break  into  a  louder  wail. 

But  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  is  spent  by  some  of  the  old 
members  of  the  family,  testing  to  see  whether  life  is  really 
extinct.  When  that  fact  is  fully  certified  to  the  crowd  in  the 
street,  the  wailing  breaks  forth  unrestrainedly  from  men, 
women,  and  children.  The  moment  that  death  is  declared, 
grief  is  demonstrated  in  screams,  shrieks,  yells,  pitiful  sup- 
plication, and  extravagant  praise  by  the  entire  village. 

Shortly  after  this  first  frantic  outburst  quiet  is  ordered, 
and  the  arrangements  for  burial  begin.  The  body  is  bathed 
and  the  limbs  are  straightened.  The  stomach  is  squeezed  so 
as  to  make  the  contents  emerge  from  the  mouth  in  order  that 
decomposition  may  be  delayed  and  the  body  kept  as  long. as 
possible.  The  time  will  vary  according  to  the  necessity  of 
the  case  and  the  social  position  of  the  dead.  Usually  the 
corpse  is  retained  only  one  day ;  but  in  case  of  a  prominent 
person  as  many  as  five  days,  and  in  case  of  kings  in  some 
tribes,  e.  g.,  of  Loango,  the  rotting  corpse,  rolled  in  many 
pieces  of  matting,  is  retained  for  weeks. 

When  the  washing  and  vomiting  have  been  done,  the  corpse 
is  dressed  in  its  finest  clothing.     The  bed-frame  is  often  en- 


RELATION   TO   THE   FUTURE   LIFE         217 

hirged  so  that  many  of  the  chief  mourners  may  be  able  to  sit 
on  it. 

The  body  is  generally  taken  from  the  bed  and  laid  on  a 
[)iece  of  matting  on  the  floor.  The  chief  female  mourner  is 
given  the  post  of  honor,  to  sit  nearest  to  the  dead,  holding  the 
liead  in  her  lap. 

During  the  time  until  the  burial  the  women  keep  bending 
the  joints  of  the  corpse  to  prevent  the  body  becoming  stiff. 
The  day  before  the  burial  (but  if  in  haste,  on  the  very  day 
of  the  deatli)  the  coffin  is  made.  During  the  making  tlio 
mourning  which  had  been  resumed  is  again  bidden  to  cease, 
in  order  that  the  spirit  may  be  pleased  with  the  wooden  house 
that  is  being  constructed  for  it.  For  the  same  reason  the 
wailing  is  again  intermitted  while  the  grave  is  being  dug. 
Those  who  are  digging  it  must  not  be  called  off  or  interrupted 
in  any  way.  When  begun,  the  job  must  be  continued  to 
completion. 

After  the  grave  is  completed,  when  they  leave  it  and  go  to 
arrange  the  coffin,  they  must  put  into  the  excavation  some 
article,  e.  g.^  a  stick  of  wood,  as  a  notice  to  any  other  wander- 
ing spirit  not  to  occupy  that  grave. 

When  all  these  preparations  are  complete,  the  corpse  is 
laid  in  the  coffin,  and  some  goods  of  the  deceased,  such  as 
pieces  of  cloth  and  other  clothing,  are  stuffed  into  it  for  his 
use  in  the  other  world.  If  the  deceased  was  addicted  to 
smoking,  a  pipe  and  tobacco  are  laid  in  the  coffin,  or  if 
accustomed  to  spirituous  drink,  some  liquor  is  often  placed 
there,  either  native  palm-wine  or  foreign  rum. 

Recently,  while  the  Rev.  F.  S.  Myongo,  a  native  clergyman, 
was  visiting  on  Corisco  Island,  he  saw  a  mother  put  into  a 
coffin  a  bundle  of  salt  for  her  daughter  to  eat  in  the  future 
world. 

If  the  deceased  was  a  rich  man,  the  people  of  his  mother's 
side  do  not  allow  him  to  be  buried  without  their  first  being 
given  a  part  of  his  property  by  the  people  of  the  father's  side. 

If  there  be  a  suspicion  that  he  has  been  killed  by  witch- 
craft, and  yet  not  enough  proof  to  warrant  a  public  charge 


218  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

and  investigation,  the  relatives  take  amonium  seeds  (carda- 
mom), chew  them,  and  put  them  into  the  mouth  of  the  dead, 
as  a  sign  that  the  spirit  shall  itself  execute  vengeance  on  the 
murderer,  and  that  the  survivors  will  take  no  further  steps. 
It  is  a  nolle  prosequi  of  a  judicial  case. 

All  being  ready,  the  lid  of  the  coffin  is  nailed  down,  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  a  first-born  only  child,  as  has  been  stated. 

In  former  days,  before  coffins  were  used,  the  bamboo  tatta 
of  the  bed-frame,  the  pandanus  leaf  mat,  palm-fibre  mosquito- 
net,  and  other  bedding  were  all  rolled  about  the  corpse  as  it 
lay,  and  were  buried  with  it. 

While  the  corpse  is  being  arranged  in  the  coffin,  the  women 
have  resumed  their  wailing.  The  coffin  is  lifted  by  strong  men 
and  hurriedly  taken  to  the  grave,  the  locality  of  which  varies  in 
different  tribes,  —  sometimes  in  the  adjacent  forest,  sometimes 
in  the  kitchen-garden  of  plantains  immediately  in  the  rear 
of  the  village  houses,  sometimes  under  the  clay  floor  of  the 
dwelling-house.  With  the  men  who  are  carrying  the  coffin 
may  go  some  women  as  witnesses. 

Formerly  also  slaves  carried  boxes  of  tlie  dead  man's  goods, 
cloth,  hardware,  crockery,  and  so  forth,  to  be  laid  by  the  body, 
which  in  those  days  was  not  interred,  but  was  left  on  the  top 
of  the  ground  covered  with  branches  and  leaves. 

In  carrying  the  coffin  to  the  grave  it  must  not  be  taken 
through  the  village  street  but  by  the  rear  of  the  houses,  lest 
the  village  be  "defiled."  As  a  result  of  such  "  deffiement," 
all  sorts  of  difficulties  will  arise,  such  as  poor  crops  from  the 
gardens  and  short  supplies  of  fish. 

The  coffin  is  laid  with  the  face  of  the  dead  looking  east- 
ward. During  the  interment  people  must  not  be  moving 
about  from  place  to  place,  but  must  remain  at  whatever  spot 
they  were  when  the  coffin  passed,  until  the  burial  is  completed. 

The  digging  of  the  grave,  the  carrying  of  the  coffin,  and 
the  closing  of  the  grave  are  all  done  only  by  men.  When 
these  have  ffiiished  the  work  of  burial,  they  are  in  great  fear, 
and  are  to  run  rapidly  to  their  village,  or  to  the  nearest  body 
of  water,  river  or  lake  or  sea.     If  in  their  running  one  should 


RELATION  TO   THE    FUTURE   LIFE         219 

trip  and  fall,  it  is  a  sign  that  lie  will  soon  die.  They  plunge 
into  the  water  as  a  means  of  "  purilication  "  from  possible 
defilement.  The  object  of  this  purification  is  not  simply  to 
cleanse  the  body,  but  to  remove  the  presence  or  contact  of  the 
spirit  of  the  dead  man  or  of  any  other  spirit  of  possible  evil 
influence,  lest  they  should  have  ill-luck  in  their  fishing,  hunt- 
ing, and  other  work. 

During  the  time  of  these  burial  and  other  ceremonies  the 
women  have  refrained  from  their  mourning. 

Women  who  have  babes  must  not  go  along  the  route  that 
was  taken  in  the  carrying  of  the  coffin,  lest  their  children 
shall  become  sick. 

When  all  parties  have  returned  from  the  grave,  the  wailing 
is  resumed.  They  all  mark  their  faces  with  ashes,  and  then 
begins  the  regular  official  kwedi  (mourning).  During  the 
continuance  of  this,  pregnant  women  and  mothers  with 
young  children  are  not  allowed  to  come  near  lest  evil  happen 
to  them.  To  prevent  any  possibility  of  the  just-departed 
spirit  injuring  any  children  of  the  village,  leaves  of  a  common 
weed,  kalakalii,  are  laid  on  their  heads. 

The  day  after  the  funeral  a  decoction  is  made  of  the  bark 
of  a  well-known  tree,  bolondo.  With  it  the  doctor  sprinkles 
the  people,  their  houses,  their  utensils  and  weapons,  and  the 
two  entrances  to  the  village.  During  the  ceremony  the 
people  are  shouting  an  ejaculatory  prayer,  "  Goods  !  Posses- 
sions !  Wealth !  Do  not  allow  confusions  to  come  to  us  1 "  this 
is  distinctly  a  petition  that  the  spirit  should  bring  to  them 
goods  or  help  them  to  obtain  wealth ;  "  Let  us  have  food ! " 
and  many  other  similar  cries  for  good  things.  What  remains 
in  the  vessel  of  the  decoction  of  bolondo  bark  after  the  gen- 
eral sprinkling  is  carried  to  the  ends  of  the  village  street, 
and  emptied  there,  as  a  prevention  against  the  entry  of  evil 
spirits. 

Also  there  is  made  a  mixture  of  scrapings  of  bolondo,  pow- 
dered red-wood,  and  chalk.  This  is  rubbed  on  the  cheeks  of 
the  people  to  keep  off  the  evil  spirits.  It  is  rubbed  also,  for 
that  same  purpose,  on  the  walls  of  houses. 


220  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

The  cutlass  (machete)  and  native  hoe  that  was  used  in  the 
digging  of  the  grave  are  washed  with  the  bolondo  decoction 
after   having   been  left   exposed  to  rain  over  night. 

Then  one  of  the  houses  of  the  village  is  chosen  as  the 
ndabo  ya  kwedi  (house  of  mourning).  The  mourners  are  to 
sit  only  in  that  house.  If  they  should  eat  in  any  other  house, 
the  spirit  of  the  dead  would  come  and  eat  with  them  and  would 
make  them  sick.  During  the  days  of  kwedi  the  men  go  in 
the  mornings  to  fish;  while  they  are  away  at  the  work,  the 
weeping  is  intermitted  lest  in  some  way  it  spoil  the  fishing. 

The  bedstead  in  the  house  of  mourning  must  be  constantly 
occupied,  even  during  the  daytime,  by  some  persons  sitting 
there,  lest  the  spirit  come  to  take  any  vacant  space  ;  and  the 
house  itself  must  not,  by  day  or  night,  be  without  some  occu- 
pant. The  near  relatives,  when  one  has  occasion  to  go  out  of 
that  house,  must  not  go  unaccompanied,  lest  the  spirit  follow 
them  and  attempt  to  resume  earthly  companionship  and  thus 
injure  them. 

If  it  was  a  great  man  who  has  died,  an  occasional  dance  is 
held  during  the  prescribed  mourning  time  to  please  his  spirit, 
which  is  supposed  to  be  walking  around  and  observing  what 
is  done. 

The  kwedi  formerly  lasted  a  month,  or,  for  a  prominent 
person,  a  month  and  a  half. 

People  who  while  they  were  living  were  supposed  to  have 
witch  power  are  believed  to  be  able  to  rise  in  an  altered 
form  from  their  graves.  To  prevent  one  who  is  thus  suspected 
from  making  trouble,  survivors  open  the  grave,  cut  off  the 
head,  and  throw  it  into  the  sea,  —  or  in  the  interior,  where 
there  is  no  great  body  of  water,  it  is  burned ;  then  a  decoction 
of  the  bolondo  bark  is  put  into  the  grave.  (The  bolondo  is  a 
poison  ;  even  a  little  of  it  may  be  fatal.) 

When  affairs  are  going  wrong  in  the  villages,  and  the  people 
do  not  know  the  cause,  offerings  of  food  and  drink  are  taken 
to  the  grave  to  cause  the  spirit  to  cease  disturbing  them,  and 
prayers  are  made  to  it  that  it  may  the  rather  bless  them. 

If  the  deceased  was  a  very  important  person,  the  kwedi  is 


RELATION    TO   THE   FUTURE   LIFE         221 

interrupted  on  the  fifth  day,  for  the  selection  of  his  successor  as 
chief  or  king.  This  ceremony  is  called  "  ampenda  "  (glories). 
The  successor  is  placed  on  the  vacant  seat  or  "  throne  "  ;  and 
songs  are  sung  in  his  praise.  B  ut  first,  a  herald  is  sent  to  the 
forest,  or  wherever  the  burial  was  made,  to  call  the  dead  to 
come  and  dispute  his  right  to  the  throne,  if  he  be  not  really 
dead.  The  herald  stands  and  calls  on  the  dead  by  name,  "  Such 
an  one  ! "  This  he  does  slowly  once,  twice,  thrice,  until  five 
times.  lie  returns,  and  reports  to  the  waiting  assembly,  "  He 
is  really  dead.  I  called  five  times,  and  he  did  not  answer." 
Then,  this  herald,  standing  in  the  street  before  all  the  people, 
praises  the  dead  for  all  his  good  deeds,  and  blames  for  some 
of  his  bad  ones.  He  turns  to  the  chosen  successor  sitting  on 
the  throne,  and  asks  pardon  for  the  candor  he  is  about  to  ex- 
ercise :  "  To-morrow  I  will  bow  to  you  and  take  off  my  hat, 
but  to-day  I  will  tell  the  whole  truth  about  you."  Turning 
to  the  crowd,  he  says,  "  The  man  who  is  gone  was  good,  and 
he  has  given  us  this  new  man.  We  hope  that  he  too  will  be 
good.  You  all  help  me  now  to  tell  him  his  bad  points." 
Then,  addressing  the  new  chief,  he  specifies,  "  You  have  a 
bad  habit  of  so  and  so."  And  the  crowd  responds  affirma- 
tively, "  Bad  !  cease  it !  "  After  this,  when  the  herald  has 
ended  liis  own  list  of  rebukes,  any  one  else  may  call  him  aside 
and  tell  him  of  any  other  evil  of  which  he  knows,  and  ask 
him  to  dii-ect  the  new  king  to  reform  it.  This  ceremony  was 
particularly  observed  by  the  Mpongwe-speaking  tribes  of  the 
Gabun  country.  In  the  presence  of  the  domination  by  for- 
eign governments,  but  little  of  it  now  exists  there  or  in  any 
other  tribes  to  the  north. 

In  the  improvised  songs  and  ejaculations  of  the  kwedi 
period  the  goodness  and  greatness  of  the  dead  are  recounted. 
The  praise  is  fulsome,  exaggerated,  and  often  preposterously 
untrue.  Some  declare  their  hopelessness  of  ever  again  seeing 
any  joy.  Supplications  are  shrieked  by  others  for  the  departed 
to  come  back  and  reanimate  the  dead  body.  By  most  the 
wailing  is  a  song  in  moans.  Men  tear  their  garments ;  women 
dishevel  their  hair ;  all  take  off  their  ornaments,  and  disfigure 


222  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

their  faces  with  ashes  or  clay.  The  female  relatives  reduce 
their  clothing  to  a  minimum  of  decency.  In  all  tribes  formerly, 
and  in  some  interior  tribes  still,  the  wives  are  made  naked, 
and  compelled  to  remain  so  for  months,  especially  if  they 
were  known  not  to  have  been  as  submissive  as  is  expected  in 
the  slavery  of  savage  African  marriage. 

During  my  early  days  in  the  Ogowe,  about  1876,  a  native 
Akele  chief,  Kasa,  who  had  been  my  patron  at  my  first  resi- 
dence in  the  Ogowe,  Belambila,  died  after  I  had  removed  to 
my  second  station,  Kangwe.  I  made  a  ceremonious  visit  of 
respect  and  condolence  about  a  month  after  his  death,  for 
Kasa,  though  a  heathen  and  often  cruel,  to  me  had  been  true 
and  helpful.  His  family  appreciated  the  compliment  of  my 
visit.  I  looked  around  the  room,  and  missed  his  wives.  I 
did  not  know  that  they  had  been  divested  of  all  clothing.  I 
asked  for  them.  A  man  hastened  to  go  out  and  call  them. 
I  wondered  somewhat  at  the  delay  in  their  coming.  I  was 
afterward  told  that  though  they  were  accustomed  to  the  dis- 
grace of  nakedness  before  native  eyes,  they  did  not  wish  to 
meet  mine,  for  I  had  always  treated  them  respectfully.  A 
half-dozen  of  them  sidled  into  the  room,  each  carrying  in  their 
hands,  as  their  only  protection,  a  plate,  and  quickly  huddled 
together  in  a  corner  of  the  room.  I  as  quickly  dismissed 
them,  telling  them  I  had  not  known  of  the  rule  under  which 
they  were  living. 

In  the  Batanga  interior,  among  the  Bulu-Fang  tribe,  where 
women  at  all  times  wear  scarcely  any  clothing,  most  widows 
are  still  required  to  go  perfectly  naked,  sometimes  for  a  whole 
year. 

All  this  wailing  and  mourning,  while  sincere  on  the  part  of 
some,  is  by  most  simply  a  yielding  to  the  contagion  of  sym- 
pathy. By  some  it  is  a  mere  formality,  and  with  many  even 
a  pretence. 

In  the  older  days,  before  Christianity  had  obtained  any  in- 
fluence, or  before  foreign  governments  had  exercised  power 
to  force  away  barbarous  rites  and  compel  civilized  ones,  when 
almost  every  death  was  regarded  as  due  to  the  exercise  of 


RELATION   TO    THE  FUTURE   LIFE  223 

black  art,  and  was  always  followed  by  a  witchcraft  investi- 
gation and  by  the  putting  to  death  of  from  one  to  ten  so- 
called  "  witches  "  and  "  wizards  "  (in  the  case  of  kings,  fifty 
to  one  hundred),  no  one,  except  the  doctor  and  his  secret 
councillors,  knew  on  whom  susi)icion  for  the  deatli  might  fall, 
and  all  were  quick  to  be  demonstrative  in  their  grief, 
whether  real  or  feigned,  as  a  means  of  warding  off  the  dreaded 
accusation  against  themselves. 

Though  those  witchcraft  executions  have  ceased  wherever 
foreign  power  exists,  the  wailing  is  still  as  demonstrative, 
either  as  a  sign  of  real  grief  or  as  a  mere  custom  ;  and  the 
mourning  after  burial  continued  for  weeks  (or  even  months) 
is  an  enormous  evil.  Wives  and  husbands  abandoning  their 
duties  to  their  own  villages ;  children  either  slighted  at 
their  own  homes  or  idly  helping  to  swell  the  confusion  at  the 
town  of  mourning  ;  men  neglecting  their  fishing,  and  women 
neglecting  their  gardens,  —  all  these  visitors  are  an  expensive 
draft  on  the  hospitality  and  resources  of  the  town  of  kwedi, 
or  on  their  other  relatives  who  may  happen  to  be  living  near. 
Inevitably  there  is  not  enough  food  for  all,  and  they  stanch 
their  hunger  by  immoderate  drinking  of  foreign  alcoholic 
liquors. 

After  the  first  paroxysms  of  grief,  in  a  few  days  the  mourn- 
ing is  reduced  to  a  perfunctory  wail  by  the  women  for  a  short 
time  each  morning  and  evening.  The  remainder  of  the  day 
is  spent  in  idle  talk,  which  always  runs  into  quarrels ;  and 
the  nights  in  dances,  which  generally  end  in  dissolute  revehy. 
A  month  of  mourning  lays  up  a  list  of  assignations  and  in- 
trigues that  result  in  trials  for  adultery  and  broken  marriage 
relations. 

The  feelings  in  the  hearts  of  the  mourners  are  very  mixed. 
The  outcry  of  affection,  pleading  with  the  dead  to  return  to 
life,  is  sincere,  the  survivor  desiring  the  return  to  life  to 
be  complete ;  but  almost  simultaneous  with  that  cry  comes 
a  fear  that  the  dead  may  indeed  return,  not  as  the  accustomed 
embodied  spirit,  helpful  and  companionable,  but  as  a  dis- 
embodied  spirit,  invisible,  estranged,  perhajjs    inimical,  and 


224  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  dread  imparted  by  the  un- 
known and  the  unseen.  The  many  then  ask,  not  that  the 
departed  may  return,  but  that,  if  it  be  hovering  near,  it  will 
go  away  entirely. 

Few  were  those  who  during  the  Hfe  of  the  departed  had 
not  on  occasions  had  some  quarrel  with  him,  or  had  done  him 
some  injustice  or  other  wrong,  and  their  thought  is,  "  His 
spirit  will  come  back  to  avenge  itself  !"  So  guns  are  fired  to 
frighten  away  the  spirit,  and  to  cause  it  to  go  off  to  the  far 
world  of  spirits,  and  not  take  up  a  residence  in  or  near  the 
town  to  haunt  and  injure  the  living. 

Nevertheless,  the  kwedi  is  kept  up,  if  for  nothing  else  than 
to  satisfy  the  self-complacence  of  the  dead.  It  is  believed 
that  the  dead,  sometimes  dissatisfied  with  the  extent  or  char- 
acter of  the  mourning  ceremony,  have  returned  and  inflicted 
some  sickness  on  the  village,  for  the  removal  of  which  other 
ceremonies  have  to  be  performed. 

Thus  far  acts  which  are  dictated  by  natural  feelings,  good 
and  otherwise,  have  been  dealt  with;  but  there  are  a  multi- 
tude of  other  ceremonies,  varied  in  different  tribes  and  never 
the  same  in  any  one  tribe,  which  are  performed  under  the 
direct  influence  of  religious  duty  as  well  as  superstitious  fear. 
What  has  been  thus  far  described  is  especially  true  of  the 
Mpongwe,  Benga,  and  Batanga  tribes  of  western  Equatorial 
Africa,  typical  for  most  Bantu  tribes  of  the  continent.  The 
following  quotations  aiford  a  comparison  of  the  burial  cus- 
toms of  savages  in  other  regions  with  those  I  have  observed : 

Lumholtz,^  describing  the  burial  customs  of  Australia,  writes: 
"The  natives  in  the  neighborhood  of  Portland  Bay,  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  South  Australia,  cremate  their  dead 
by  placing  the  corpse  in  a  hollow  tree  and  setting  fire  to  it. 
.  .  .  The  natives  of  Australia  have  this  peculiarity,  in  com- 
.  mon  with  the  savages  of  other  countries,  that  they  never  utter 
the  names  of  the  dead,  lest  their  spirits  should  liear  the  voices 
of  the  hving  and  thus  discover  their  whereabouts.  There 
seems  to  be  a  widespread  belief  in  the  soul's  existence  inde- 

1  Amoug  Cannibals,  pp.  278-279. 


RELATION    TO   THE   FUTURE    LIFE         225 

pendently  of  matter.  On  this  point  Eraser  relates  that  the 
Kulie  tribe  (Victoria)  believes  that  every  man  and  animal 
has  a  muriep  (ghost  or  spirit)  which  can  pass  into  othei- 
bodies.  A  person's  muriep  may  in  his  lifetime  leave  his 
body  and  visit  other  people  in  his  dreams.  After  death  the 
muriep  is  supposed  to  appear  again,  to  visit  the  grave  of  its 
former  possessor,  to  communicate  with  living  persons  in  their 
dreams,  to  eat  remnants  of  food  lying  near  the  camp,  and  to 
warm  itself  by  the  niglit  fires.  A  similar  belief  has  been  ob- 
served among  the  blacks  of  Lower  Guinea.  On  my  travels 
I,  too,  found  a  widespread  fear  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  to 
which  the  imagination  of  the  natives  attributed  all  sorts  of 
remarkable  qualities.  The  greater  the  man  was  on  earth,  the 
more  his  departed  spirit  is  feared.  .  .  .  An  old  warrior  who 
has  been  a  strong  man  and  therefore  much  respected  by  his 
tribe,  is,  after  his  death,  put  on  a  platform  made  with  forked 
sticks,  cross-pieces,  and  a  sheet  or  two  of  bark ;  he  is  hoisted 
up  amidst  a  pandemonium  of  noise,  howling,  and  wailing, 
besides  much  cutting  with  tomahawks,  and  banging  of  heads 
with  noUa-nollas.  He  is  laid  on  his  back  with  his  knees  up, 
like  the  females,  and  the  grass  is  cleared  away  from  under 
and  around.  The  place  is  now  for  a  long  time  carefully 
avoided,  till  he  is  quite  shrivelled,  whereupon  his  bones  are 
taken  away  and  put  in  a  tree. 

"  The  common  man  is  buried  like  a  woman,  only  that  logs 
are  put  over  him,  and  his  bones  are  not  removed.  Young 
children  are  put  bodily  into  the  trees. 

"  The  fact  that  the  natives  bestow  any  care  on  the  bodies  of 
the  dead  is  doubtless  owing  to  the  fear  of  the  spirits  of  the 
departed.  In  some  places  I  have  seen  the  legs  drawn  and 
tied  fast  to  the  bodies,  in  order  to  hinder  the  spirits  of  the 
dead,  as  it  were,  from  getting  out  to  frighten  the  living. 
Women  and  children,  whose  spirits  are  not  feared,  receive 
less  attention  and  care  after  death. 

"  In  several  tribes  it  is  customary  to  bury  the  body  where 
the  person  was  born.  I  know  of  a  case  where  a  dying  man 
was  transported  fifty  miles  in  order  to  be  buried  in  the  place 

15 


226  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

of  his  nativity.  It  has  even  happened  that  the  natives  have 
beo'un  digging  outside  a  white  man's  kitchen  door,  because 
they  wanted  to  bury  an  old  man  born  there.  In  Central 
Queensland  I  saw  many  burial-places  on  hills.  Such  are  also 
said  to  be  found  in  New  South  Wales  and  in  Victoria.  These 
burial  grounds  have  been  in  use  for  centuries,  and  are  con- 
sidered sacred. 

"  In  South  Australia  and  in  Victoria  the  head  is  not  buried 
with  the  body,  for  the  skull  is  preserved  and  used  as  a  drink- 
ing-cup.  It  is  a  common  custom  to  place  the  dead  between 
pieces  of  bark  and  grass  on  a  scaffold,  where  they  remain  till 
they  are  decayed,  and  then  the  bones  are  buried  in  the  ground. 

"  In  the  northern  part  of  Queensland  I  have  heard  people 
say  that  the  natives  have  a  custom  of  placing  themselves 
under  these  scaffolds  to  let  the  fat  drop  on  them,  and  that 
they  believe  that  this  puts  them  in  possession  of  the  strength 
of  the  dead  man. 

"  A  kind  of  mummy  dried  by  the  aid  of  fire  and  smoke,  is 
also  found  in  Australia;  male  children  are  most  frequently 
prepared  in  this  manner.  The  corpse  is  then  packed  into  a 
bundle,  which  is  carried  for  some  time  by  the  mother.  She 
has  it  with  her  constantly,  and  at  night  sleeps  with  it  at  her 
side.  After  about  six  months,  when  nothing  but  the  bones 
remain,  she  buries  it  in  the  earth.  Full-grown  men  are  also 
sometimes  carried  in  this  manner,  particularly  the  bodies  of 
great  warriors." 

W.  H.  Brown,  in  "  On  the  South  African  Frontier,"  de- 
scribes a  burial  in  Mashona-land :  "  When  a  member  of  the 
community  dies,  he  or  she,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  usually 
buried  under  a  shelf  of  rock  in  a  reclining  position,  with 
arms  folded  and  legs  doubled  up.  In  some  districts,  where 
heaps  of  rocks  are  scarce,  I  have  seen  graves  made  in 
large  ant-heaps.  As  a  rule,  a  small  canopy  or  thatched  roof 
is  built  over  the  grave,  and  under  this  it  is  common  to  see 
placed,  as  an  offering,  a  pot  of  beer  and  a  plate  of  sadza. 
The  beer  evaporates,  and  the  ants  eat  the  sadza;  but,  to 
the  Mashona  mind,  the  disappearance  is  due  to  supernatural 


RELATION   TO   THE   FUTURE   LIFE         227 

causes.  At  the  burial  the  near  rehitives  of  the  deceased 
cry  aloud.  I  was  camping  one  niglit  near  a  village  where 
a  child  died.  The  obsequies  took  place  next  morning  be- 
tween dawn  and  sunrise.  The  mother  cried  loudly  while 
the  ceremony  was  proceeding,  but  her  wailing  ceased  soon 
after  the  funeral,  and  there  was  no  more  noise  made  over 
it.  I  went  into  the  village  about  two  hours  later,  and 
saw  some  men,  women,  and  children  quietly  sitting  around 
the  hut  in  which  the  death  had  taken  place,  and  looking 
very  solemn.  The  child  was  about  two  weeks  old,  and  the 
cause  of  death  was  attributed  by  the  Mashonas  to  the  fact 
tliat  the  mother  had  not  given  beer  to  her  grandfather  when 
he  wanted  it  at  his  death. 

"  If  a  woman's  husband  dies,  and  she  afterwards  procures 
another,  the  new  man  takes  up  his  abode  in  the  hut  of  the 
dead  one,  becomes  owner  of  his  assegais  and  battle-axes,  and 
assumes  his  name.  Whether  or  not  the  second  husband  is 
supposed  to  enter  into  possession  of  the  spirit  of  the  deceased, 
I  could  not  discover.  Some  Mashonas  have  told  me  that 
they  believe  that  the  spirits  of  their  departed  relatives  enter 
the  bodies  of  animals,  particularly  those  of  lions. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  lunar  month  during  which  a  death  has 
taken  place,  the  surviving  partner,  man  or  woman,  kills  a 
goat,  and  its  meat  is  cooked,  as  well  as  quantities  of  other 
food,  and  a  large  amount  of  Kaffir  beer  is  brewed.  The 
people  gather  from  the  neighboring  kraals,  and  an  all-night 
feast  and  dance  ensue. 

"Monthly  'dead-relative  dances,'  which  are  called  'ma- 
chae '  are  very  common ;  and  if  no  one  has  been  accommo- 
dating enough  to  die  during  the  month,  the  feast  and  dance 
may  be  held  in  honor  of  some  one  who  departed  years 
before." 

A  similar  dance  is  held  in  the  Gabun  region  of  West 
Africa,  partly  as  a  consolatory  amusement  for  the  living,  near 
the  close  of  whatever  prescribed  time  of  mourning.  It  is 
called  "  Ukukwe  "  (for  the  spirit),  as  if  for  the  gratification 
of  the  hovering  spirit  of  the  dead;    but  in  many  places  in 


228  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

that  region  this  dance  has  lost  all  reference  to  or  for  the 
dead,  or  even  any  connection  with  a  time  of  mourning,  and 
has  become  simply  a  common  amusement. 

In  the  Bihe  country  of  Southwest  Africa,^  "death  is  sur- 
rounded by  many  strange  and  absurd  superstitions.  It  is 
considered  essential  that  a  man  should  die  in  his  own  country, 
if  not  in  his  own  town.  On  the  way  to  Bailundu,  shortly 
after  leaving  Bihe  territory,  I  met  some  men  running  at  great 
speed,  carrying  a  sick  man  tied  to  a  pole,  in  order  that  he 
might  die  in  his  own  country.  I  tried  to  stop  them ;  but 
they  were  running,  as  fast  as  their  burden  would  allow  them, 
down  a  steep  rocky  hill.  By  the  sick  man's  convulsive 
movements  I  could  see  that  he  was  in  great  pain,  perhaps 
in  his  death  throes;  hence  the  great  haste.  If  a  Bailundu 
man  dies  in  Bihe,  the  Bihe  people  have  to  pay  the  Bailundu 
heavily  for  the  shameful  conduct  of  the  Bihe  demons  in 
killing  a  stranger;  and  vice  versa. 

"  When  a  man  dies  at  home,  his  body  is  placed  on  a  rude 
table,  and  his  friends  meet  for  days  round  the  corpse,  drink- 
ing, eating,  shouting,  and  singing,  until  the  body  begins 
actually  to  fall  to  pieces.  Then  the  body  is  tied  in  a  fagot 
of  poles  and  carried  on  men's  shoulders  up  and  down  some 
open  space,  followed  by  doctors  and  drummers.  The  doctors 
demand  of  the  dead  man  the  cause  of  his  death,  whether  by 
poison  or  witchcraft;  and  if  by  the  latter,  who  was  the 
witch?  Most  of  the  deaths  I  have  known  of  in  Negro-land 
were  from  pulmonary  diseases,  but  all  were  set  down  to 
witchcraft.  The  jerking  of  the  bier  to  and  fro,  causing  the 
men  bearing  it  to  stumble  hither  and  thither,  is  taken  as  the 
dead  man's  answer ;  thus,  as  in  the  case  of  spirit-rapping  at 
home,  the  reply  is  spelled  out.  The  result  of  this  enquiry  is 
implicitly  believed  in ;  and,  if  the  case  demands  it,  the  witch 
is  drowned." 

Among  the  Barotse  of  South  Africa ^  "funerals  take  place 
at  night,  and  generally  immediately  after  death,  while  the 

1  Arnot,  Garenganze,  p.  116. 

^  Decle,  Three  Years  in  Savage  Africa,  pp.  74-79. 


RELATION   TO   THE   FUTURE   LIFE         229 

body  is  still  warm.  If  the  person,  when  alive,  possessed  the 
skill  of  an  animal,  they  wrap  the  body  in  it,  and  also  in  a 
plain  mat,  and  then  bury  it  near  the  hut.  But  death  inspires 
them  with  a  mortal  terror,  and  thus  the  hut  of  the  dead 
man  is  nearly  always  abandoned.  Anything  that  has  been 
used  for  the  burial,  such  as  the  wood  on  which  the  corpse 
was  carried,  is  left  near  the  grave.  It  is  the  fashion  to 
display  great  external  signs  of  grief,  howls  and  cries  of 
lamentation  and  the  like.  Formerly  the  graves  of  chiefs 
were  distinguished  by  elephant  tusks  turned  toward  the 
east.  All  cattle  belonging  to  the  deceased  are  killed ;  and 
any  animal  of  which  he  was  particularly  fond,  such  as  the 
cow  whose  milk  he  drank,  is  killed  first.  They  bury  in  the 
kraal  itself  those  who  died  in  the  kraal ;  but  whenever  it  is 
possible,  the  dying  are  taken  out  and  laid  in  the  fields  or 
forest.  There  are  two  reasons  for  this :  first,  they  think  that 
away  from  other  people  is  a  better  chance  of  the  invalid 
making  a  recovery ;  and,  secondly,  wherever  the  person  dies 
he  must  be  buried;  therefore,  if  possible,  far  from  their 
habitations.  When  a  man  dies,  visits  of  condolence  are  paid 
to  the  relatives,  the  visitors  bringing  a  calf  or  a  head  of  cattle 
as  a  mark  of  sympathy,  which  is  killed  and  eaten  as  a  kind 
of  consolation.  The  night  after  the  funeral  is  passed  in  tears 
and  cries.  A  few  days  later,  the  doctor  comes  and  makes  an 
incision  on  the  forehead  of  each  of  the  survivors,  and  fills 
it  with  medicine,  in  order  to  ward  off  contagion  and  the  effect 
of  the  sorcer}'  which  caused  the  death.  They  place  on  their 
tombs  some  souvenir  of  the  profession  or  vocation  of  the 
defunct;  for  example,  —  if  he  had  been  a  hunter,  horns  or 
skins;  if  a  chairmaker,  a  chair;  and  so  on.  Over  the  grave 
a  sacred  tree  is  planted.  The  tree  is  a  kind  of  laurel  called 
'  morata.'  ...  A  man  will  kill  himself  on  the  tomb  of  his 
chief ;  he  thinks,  as  he  passes  near  by,  that  he  hears  the  dead 
man  call  him  and  bid  him  bring  him  water.  These  natives 
believe  in  transmigration  of  the  soul  into  animals  ;  thus,  the 
hippopotamus  is  believed  to  shelter  the  spirit  of  a  chief. 
Nevertheless,  they  do  not  appear  very  clear  that  the  soul  can- 


230  FETICHISM  IN  WEST  AFRICA 

not  be  in  two  places  at  once;  else,  if  a  chief  has  become  a 
hippopotamus  in  the  Zambesi,  why  should  one  slay  one's  self 
to  bring  water  to  his  tomb?" 

Perhaps  Declfe  was  not  aware  of  a  widespread  belief  in  a 
dual  soul,  consisting  of  a  "spirit,"  that,  as  far  as  known, 
lives  forever  in  the  world  of  spirits,  and  a  "shadow"  that 
for  an  uncertain  length  of  time  hovers  around  the  mortal 
remains.  Some,  as  already  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter, 
also  name  a  third  entity,  the  "life,"  —  that  which,  being 
"eaten"  by  sorcerers,  causes  the  living  being  to  sicken,  and 
which  the  sorcerer,  if  detected,  can  be  compelled  to  return 
to  its  owner.  Miss  Kingsley  thought  also  she  had  discov- 
ered a  belief  in  a  fourth  entity,  the  "dream-soul."  But 
this,  though  doubtless  believed  in  as  that  which  sometimes 
leaves  the  sleeping  body  and  goes  on  distant  wanderings,  is 
the  same  as  the  "spirit,"  during  whose  temporary  absence  the 
body  continues  its  breathing  and  other  physical  motions,  in 
virtue  of  the  presence  of  its  second  and  third  soul-entities. 

The  funeral  practices  of  all  the  tribes,  with  very  few  ex- 
ceptions, over  all  Africa,  however  much  they  may  and  do 
vary,  contain  all  of  them,  as  shown  by  the  preceding  quota- 
tions, a  decided  belief  in,  and  fear  of,  the  intelligent  and 
probably  inimical  activity  of  the  spirits  of  their  dead.  They 
include  also  the  custom  of  the  burial  with  the  dead  man  of 
more  or  less  of  his  property,  together  with  the  destruction 
of  such  things  as  cannot  be  conveniently  placed  in  the 
grave,  —  clothing,  crockery,  utensils,  wives,  slaves,  trees  of 
fruitage,  etc. 

Even  among  the  civilized  and  enlightened,  while-  of 
course  there  would  be  no  excessive  destruction  of  property, 
nor  murder  of  widow  or  slave,  an  extravagant  amount  of 
wearing  apparel  is  stuffed  into  the  coffin  (which  is  some- 
times made  large  for  that  purpose)  as  a  sign  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  dead,  and  of  the  sacrifice  the  love  and  grief  of 
the  living  are  willing  to  make. 

The  residence  of  the  transmigrated  spirit  is  probably  not  a 
permanent  one.    The  Wa-nya-mwesi  of  East  Africa  "believe 


RELATION   TO   THE   FUTURE   LIFE         231 

in  transmigration  both  during  life  and  after  it.  Thus,  ac- 
cording to  them,  a  sorcerer  can  transform  himself  into  a  wild 
animal  to  injure  his  enemies ;  but  in  such  cases  the  change 
is  not  permanent,  and  the  soul  does  not  remain  in  its  new 
habitation."  ^ 

Leaving  out  of  view  the  immense  difference,  caused  by  the 
absence  of  Christianity,  in  the  moral  life  of  native  Africa,  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  United  States,  there  is  no  one 
thing  that  more  painfully  strikes  me,  in  the  low  civilization 
of  the  former,  than  their  customs  for  the  dead.  It  would 
occupy  too  much  space  to  recount  at  length  all  the  reasons 
the  natives  give  for  their  sometimes  apparently  heartless 
ceremonies.  The  true  explanation  lies  in  their  belief  in 
witchcraft  and  their  fear  of  spirits. 

From  the  testimony  of  travellers,  burial  customs  are  much 
the  same  all  over  Africa.  What  I  have  written  is  my  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  what  prevails  on  the  West  Coast,  in  the 
equatorial  regions,  and  especially  in  the  portion  lying  along 
the  course  of  the  Ogowe  River,  —  a  river  that  was  first 
brought  to  public  notice  through  the  writings  of  Paul  Du 
Chaillu,  the  journeys  of  a  British  trader,  Mr.  R.  B.  N. 
Walker,  and  subsequently  by  the  thorough  explorations  of 
Count  P.  S.  De  Brazza. 

There  are  in  Africa  social  distinctions  of  rich  and  poor, 
higher  and  lower  classes,  just  as  there  are,  and  always  will 
be,  all  the  world  over,  the  claims  of  communism  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.  These  distinctions  follow  their 
subjects  to  the  grave,  —  just  as,  in  our  own  civilization, 
one  is  laid  in  the  sculptured  cemetery  and  another  in  the 
Potter's  Field. 

The  African  burial-grounds  are  mostly  in  the  forest,  in  the 
low-lying  lands  and  tangled  thickets  along  the  sea-beach,  or 
the  banks  of  rivers.  Hills  and  elevated  building-sites  are 
reserved  for  villages  and  plantations.  If  a  traveller,  in 
journeying  along  the  main  river  of  the  country,  observes 
long   reaches   of   uncleared    thickets,    he    will    probably   be 

1  Decle. 


232  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

correct  in  susiDCcting  that  these  are  burial-grounds.  His 
native  crew  will  be  slow  to  inform  him  of  the  fact  or  to 
converse  on  the  subject,  unless  to  object  to  an  order  to  go 
ashore  there. 

Some  of  the  interior  tribes  bury  all  their  dead  under  the 
clay  floors  of  their  houses.  The  living  are  thus  actually 
treading  and  cooking  their  food  over  the  graves  of  their 
relatives. 

This  mode  of  burial  is  reserved  as  a  distinction,  in  the  case 
of  some  coast  tribes,  for  a  very  few  of  their  honored  chiefs, 
or  for  a  specially  loved  relative. 

Over  or  near  the  graves  of  the  rich  are  built  little  huts, 
where  are  laid  the  common  articles  used  by  them  in  their 
life,  —  pieces  of  crockery,  knives,  sometimes  a  table,  mirrors, 
and  other  goods  obtained  in  foreign  trade.  Once,  in  ascend- 
ing the  Ogowe,  I  observed,  tied  to  the  branches  of  a  large 
tree  extending  over  the  stream  from  the  top  of  the  bank,  a 
wooden  trade-chest,  five  pitchers  and  mugs,  and  several 
fathoms  of  calico  prints.  I  was  informed  that  the  grave 
of  a  lately  deceased  chief  was  near,  that  these  articles  were 
signs  of  his  wealth,  and  were  intended  as  offerings  to  spirits 
to  induce  them  to  draw  to  the  villages  of  his  people  the 
trade  of  passing  merchant  vessels. 

A  noticeable  fact  about  these  gifts  to  the  spirits  is  that, 
however  great  a  thief  a  man  ma}^  be,  he  will  not  steal  from 
a  grave.  The  coveted  mirror  will  lie  there  and  waste  in  the 
rain,  and  the  valuable  garment  will  flap  itself  to  rags  in  the 
wind,  but  human  hands  will  not  touch  them.  Sometimes 
the  temptation  to  steal  is  removed  by  the  donor  fracturing 
the  article  before  it  is  laid  on  the  grave. 

Actual  interment  is  generally  given  to  all  who  in  life  were 
regarded  as  at  all  worthy  of  respect.  Native  implements  for 
excavating  being  few  and  small,  the  making  of  a  grave  is 
quite  a  task;  it  is  often,  therefore,  made  no  deeper  than  is 
actually  sufficient  for  covering  the  corpse.  This,  according 
to  the  greatness  of  the  dead  or  the  wealth  of  the  family,  is 
variously  encased.     Sometimes  it  is  placed  in  a  coffin  made 


RELATION   TO   THE   EUTURE    LIFE         233 

of  the  ends  of  an  old  canoe;  or,  more  shapely,  of  boards  cut 
from  the  canoe's  bottom  and  sides;  or,  even  so  expensively 
as  to  use  two  trade-boxes,  making  one  long  one  by  knocking 
out  an  end  from  each  and  telescoping  them. 

Sometimes  the  corpse  is  cast  out  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  perhaps  a  pile  of  stones  or  brushwood  gathered 
over  it.  Sometimes  it  lies  uncovered.  Sometimes  they  are 
cast  into  the  river. 

Many  years  ago,  I  was  ascending  the  Ogowe  River  in  my 
boat,  painfully  toiling  against  the  current.  I  had  unwisely 
refused  the  wish  of  my  crew  to  stop  for  our  mid-day  meal  at 
a  desirable  ulako  (camping-ground),  as  the  hour  was  too 
early;  and  I  determined  to  go  on,  and  stop  at  some  other 
place.  But  I  regretted  presently;  for,  instead  of  finding 
forest  and  high  camping-ground,  we  came  to  a  long  stretch 
of  papyrus  swamp;  and,  after  that,  to  low  jungle.  We 
pulled  on  for  another  mile,  the  sun  growing  hotter,  along 
the  unsheltered  bank,  and  we  growing  faint  with  hunger 
as  the  hour  verged  to  noon.  Becoming  desperate,  I  di- 
rected the  crew  to  stop  at  the  very  first  spot  that  was  solid 
enough  for  foothold,  intending  to  eat  our  dry  rice  with- 
out fire.  Presently  we  came  to  a  clump  of  oil-palms.  Their 
existence  showed  solid  ground,  and  I  seized  the  rudder  and 
ran  the  boat  ashore.  The  crew  objected,  hungry  though 
they  were,  that  "it  was  not  a  good  place";  but  they  did 
not  mention  why.  I  jumped  ashore,  however,  and  ordered 
them  to  follow,  and  gather  sticks  for  fire.  As  they  were 
rather  slow  in  so  doing,  and  I  overheard  murmuring  that 
"firewood  is  not  gotten  from  palm  trees"  (which  is  true), 
I  set  them  an  example  by  starting  off  on  a  search  myself. 

I  had  not  gone  far  before  I  found  a  pile  of  brushwood,  and, 
rejoicing  at  my  success,  I  called  out  to  the  crew  to  come  and 
carry  it.  While  they  were  coming,  I  stooped  down  and  laid 
hold  of  an  eligible  stick.  But  an  odor  startled  me;  and  the 
other  sticks  that  I  had  dislocated  falling  apart,  there  was 
revealed  a  human  foot  and  shin,  which,  from  the  ornaments 
still  remaining  about  the  ankle,  I  suppose  was  a  woman's. 


234  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

My  attendants  fled;  and  I  re-embarked  in  the  boat,  suffi- 
ciently unconscious  of  hunger  to  await  a  late  meal  that  was 
not  cooked  until  we  reached  a  comfortable  village  a  short 
distance  beyond.  My  crew  then  explained  their  slowness 
to  obey  me  at  that  clump  of  palm  trees,  by  saying  that  they 
knew  it  looked  like  a  burying-place. 

A  less  respectful  mode  of  burial  (if,  indeed,  the  term  be 
not  a  misnomer)  is  applied  to  the  poor,  to  the  friendless 
aged  who  have  wearied  out  the  patience  of  relatives  by  a 
long  sickness,  and  to  those  whose  bodies  are  offensive  by  a 
leprous  or  otherwise  ulcerous  condition.  Immediately  that 
life  seems  extinct  (and  sometimes  even  before)  the  wasted 
frame  is  tied  up  in  the  mat  on  which  it  is  lying,  and,  slung 
from  a  pole  on  the  shoulders  of  two  men,  is  flung  out  on 
the  surface  of  the  ground  in  the  forest,  to  become  the  prey 
of  wild  beasts  and  the  scavenger  "driver"  (Termes  bellicosa) 
ants. 

Of  one  tribe  in  the  upper  course  of  the  Ogowe,  I  was  told, 
who,  in  their  intense  fear  of  ghosts,  and  their  dread  of  the 
possible  evil  influence  of  the  spirits  of  their  own  dead  rela- 
tives, sometimes  adopt  a  horrible  plan  for  preventing  their 
return.  With  a  very  material  idea  of  a  spirit,  they  seek  to 
disable  it  by  beating  the  corpse  until  everj'  bone  is  broken. 
The  mangled  mass  is  hung  in  a  bag  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  in 
the  forest.  Thus  mutilated,  the  spirit  is  supposed  to  be 
unable  to  return  to  the  village,  to  entice  into  its  fellowship 
of  death  any  of  the  survivors. 

Some  dead  bodies  are  burned,  particularly  those  of  crim- 
inals. Persons  convicted  on  a  charge  of  witchcraft  are 
"criminals,"  and  are  almost  invariably  killed.  Sometimes 
they  are  beheaded.  I  have  often  had  in  my  possession  the 
curved  knives  with  which  this  operation  is  performed. 

Sometimes  torture  is  used:  a  common  mode  is  to  roast  the 
condemned  over  a  slow  fire,  which  is  made  under  a  stout 
bed-frame  built  for  the  purpose.  In  such  a  case  almost 
the  entire  body  is  reduced  to  ashes.  When  I  was  clearing 
a  piece  of  ground  at  Belambila  in  the  Ogowe  in  1875,  for  the 


RELATION   TO    THE   FUTURE   LIFE         235 

house  which  I  afterward  occupied,  my  workmen  came  on 
a  pile  of  ashes,  charcoal,  and  charred  bones,  where,  they 
assured  me,   a  criminal  had  been  put  to  death. 

A  barely  mentionable  method  of  disposal  of  the  bodies  of 
the  dead  is  to  eat  them.  That  is  possible  only  in  a  cannibal 
country.  That  it  was  actual  was  known  among  the  Gal)uii 
Fang  fifty  years  ago,  and  among  my  Ogowe  Fang  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  None  ate  of  their  own  dead;  adjacent  towns 
exchanged  corpses.  Women  were  not  allowed  to  partake. 
The  practice  was  confined  to  the  old  men.  One  such  was 
pointed  out  to  me  at  Talaguga  in  1882.  He  robbed  graves 
for  that  purpose. 

Among  the  coast  tribes  of  the  Gabun  region  of  West  Africa 
cremation  is  not  known,  nor  are  corpses  thrown  out  on  the 
ground.  Under  the  influence  of  foreign  example,  the  dead 
are  coffined,  more  or  less  elaborately,  according  to  the  ability 
of  the  family ;  and  the  interment  is  made  in  graves  of  proper 
depth.  In  some  of  these  tribes  a  locality  of  low,  dark, 
tangled  forest,  not  suitable  as  site  for  a  village  or  for  a 
plantation,  is  used  as  a  public  cemetery. 

Among  the  tribes  of  Batanga  in  the  German  Kamerun 
territory,  though  the  people  are  civilized,  the  old  unsanitary 
custom  of  burying  in  the  kitchen-gardens  immediately  in  the 
rear  of  the  village,  and  sometimes  actually  in  the  clay  floor 
of  the  dwelling  itself,  is  still  kept  up,  even  by  the  more  en- 
lightened natives.  The  Christians  are  not  in  numbers  suffi- 
ciently large  in  any  family  to  control  all  the  burial  ceremonies 
of  its  dead  members.  The  strange  spectacle  is  therefore  pre- 
sented of  a  mixture  of  Christian  ritual  and  fetich  custom.  In 
my  own  experience  at  funerals  of  some  children  of  church- 
members  at  Batanga,  the  singing  of  hymns  of  faith  and  hope 
by  the  Christian  relatives  alternated  with  the  howling  of  half- 
naked  heathen  death-dancers  in  an  adjoining  house.  And 
when  I  had  read  the  burial  service  to  the  point  of  beginning 
the  march  of  the  procession  to  the  grave,  perhaps  only  a  few 
rods  distant,  the  heathen  remained  behind;  and  while  I  was 
reading  the  "dust  to  dust"  at  the  grave-side,  they  would  be 


236  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

building  a  quick  fire  of  chips  and  dried  leaves  on  the  exact 
spot  where  the  coffin  had  last  stood  in  the  village  street. 
The  ashes  they  would  gather  and  incorporate  into  their  fam- 
ily fetiches,  to  insure  fertility  to  the  mother  and  other  near 
female  relatives  of  the  dead  child. 

Also,  in  the  Gabun  region,  there  is  the  remains  of  a 
custom,  practised  especially  by  the  Orungu  tribe  of  Cape 
Lopez,  of  a  pretended  quarrel  between  two  parties  of 
mourners  on  a  question  whether  or  not  the  burial  shall 
actually  be  made,  even  though  there  is  no  doubt  that  it 
will  be,  and  the  coffin  is  ready  to  be  carried.  This  contest 
concluded,  a  second  quarrel  is  raised  on  a  question  as  to 
which  of  two  sets  of  relatives,  the  maternal  or  the  paternal, 
shall  have  the  right  to  carry  it.  Very  recently  this  actually 
occurred  at  the  town  of  Libreville,  and  on  the  premises  of 
the  American  Presbyterian  Mission,  the  fight  being  shame- 
fully waged  by  young  men  who  formerly  had  been  profess- 
ing Christians.  They  had  been  given  permission  to  bury  a 
young  man  in  our  Protestant  cemetery.  The  missionary  in 
charge  of  the  station  heard  a  great  hubbub  on  the  path 
entering  the  mission  grounds,  as  if  a  fight  was  in  progress. 
Going  to  investigate,  he  found  an  angry  contest  was  being 
carried  on,  under  the  old  heathen  idea  that  the  spirit  of 
the  dead  must  see  and  be  pleased  by  a  demonstration  of  a 
professed  desire  to  keep  him  with  the  living,  and  not  to  allow 
him  to  be  put  away  from  them.  The  contest  of  words  had 
almost  come  to  blows,  and  the  victors  had  set  up  a  disgrace- 
ful shout  as  they  seized  the  coffin  to  bring  it  to  the  grave. 

Another  custom  remains  in  Gabun,  —  a  pleasant  one ;  it 
may  once  have  had  fetich  significance,  but  it  has  lost  it  now, 
so  that  Christians  may  properly  retain  it.  Just  before  the 
close  of  the  kwedi,  friends  (other  than  relatives)  of  the 
mourners  will  bring  some  gift,  even  a  small  one,  make  a 
few  remarks  appropriate  to  it  and  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  receiver,  and  give  it  to  his  or  her  mourning  friend.  It  is 
called  tlie  "ceremony  of  lifting  up,"  i.  c,  out  of  the  literal 
ashes,  and  from  the  supposed  depths  of  grief.    For  instance,  if 


A  Civilized  Family.  —  Gabux. 


RELATION   TO   THE   FUTURE   LIFE         237 

the  gift  be  a  piece  of  soap,  the  speech  of  donation  will  be,  "  Sit 
no  longer  in  the  dust  with  begrimed  face!  Rise,  and  use 
the  soap  for  your  body!  "  Or  if  it  be  a  piece  of  cloth,  "Be 
no  longer  naked !  Rise,  and  clothe  yourself  with  your  usual 
dress!"  Or  if  it  be  food,  "Fast  no  longer  in  your  grief! 
Rise,  and  strengthen  your  body  with  food!" 

As  to  the  status  of  the  departed  in  the  spirit-world, 
though  all  those  African  tribes  from  old  heathen  days 
knew  of  the  name  of  God,  of  His  existence,  and  of  some  of 
His  attributes,  they  did  not  know  of  the  true  way  of  escape 
from  the  evils  of  this  present  life,  of  any  system  of  reward 
and  punishment  in  the  future  life,  nor  of  any  of  the  condi- 
tions of  that  life.  That  they  had  a  belief  in  a  future  world 
is  evidenced  by  survivors  taking  to  the  graves  of  their  dead, 
as  has  been  described  in  the  preceding  pages,  boxes  of  goods, 
native  materials,  foreign  cloth,  food,  and  (formerly)  even 
wives  and  servants,  for  use  in  that  other  life  to  which  they 
had  gone.  Whatever  may  have  been  supposed  about  the 
locality  or  occupations  of  that  life,  the  dead  were  confidently 
believed  to  have  carried  with  them  all  their  human  passions 
and  feelings,  and  especially  their  resentments.  Fear  of  those 
possible  resentments  dominated  the  living  in  all  their  attempts 
at  spiritual  communication  with  the  dead. 

As  to  the  locality  of  the  latter,  it  was  2iot  believed  that 
all  of  them  always  remained  in  that  unknown  other  world. 
They  could  wander  invisibly  and  intangibly.  More  than 
that,  they  could  return  bodily  and  resume  this  earthly  life 
in  other  forms ;  for  belief  in  metempsychosis  is  a  common  one 
among  all  these  tribes.  The  dead,  some  of  them,  return  to 
be  born  again,  either  into  their  own  family  or  into  any  other 
family,  or  even  into  a  beast. 

Who  thus  return,  or  why  they  return,  is  entirely  uncertain. 
Certainly  not  all  are  thus  born  again.  Those  who  in  this 
present  life  had  been  great  or  good  or  prominent  or  rich 
remain  in  the  spirit-world,  and  constitute  the  special  class 
of  spirits  called  "awiri"  (singular,    "  ombwiri "). 

But  these  awiri  are  at  liberty  to  revisit  the  earth  if  they 


-238  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

choose,  taking  a  local  habitation  in  some  prominent  natural 
object,  or  coming  on  call  to  aid  in  ceremonies  for  curing  the 
sick.  Other  spirits,  as  explained  in  a  previous  chapter,  are 
sinkinda,  the  souls  of  the  common  dead;  and  ilaga,  unknown 
spirits  of  other  nations,  or  beings  who  have  become  "angels," 
all  of  these  living  in  "Njambi's  Town." 

As  to  Father  Njambi  Himself,  the  creator  and  or^rseer  of 
all,  both  living  and  dead,  every  kind  of  spirit —  nubwiri, 
nkinda,  olaga,  and  all  sorts  of  abambo — is  under  Hi  control, 
but  He  does  not  often  exercise  it. 


CHAPTER  XV 

FETICHISM— SOME  OF  ITS  PRACTICAL  EFFECTS 
Depopulation. 

ONE  of  the  effects  of  witchcraft  beliefs  in  Africa  is  the 
depopulation  of  that  continent.  Over  enormons  areas 
of  the  country  the  deatli  rate  has  exceeded  the  birth  rate. 
INIuch  of  Africa  is  desert  —  the  Sahara  of  the  north,  and  the 
Kalahari  of  the  south  —  with  estimated  populations  of  only 
one  to  the  square  mile.  Another  large  area  is  a  wilderness 
covered  by  the  great  sub -equatorial  forest, — a  belt  about 
three  hundred  miles  wide  and  one  thousand  miles  long,  with 
an  estimated  population  of  only  eighteen  to  the  square  mile 
(among  whom  are  the  Pygmy  tribes);  and  these  not  scattered 
uniformly,  but  gathered  chiefly  on  the  banks  of  the  water- 
courses, the  only  highways  (except  narrow  footpaths)  through 
that  dismal  forest. 

The  entire  population  of  Africa,  including  all  nationalities, 
—  Copts  of  Egypt,  Moors  and  Berbers  of  the  north,  Arabs  of 
the  east,  Abyssinians,  Pygmies,  and  Cannibals  of  the  centre, 
Negroes,  both  Bantu  and  Negroid,  of  the  west,  south,  centre, 
and  east,  —  probably  do  not  number  two  hundred  million. 
Of  these,  the  Negroes  probably  do  not  amount  to  one  hun- 
dred million.  German  authorities  variously  estimate  the 
population  of  their  Kamerun  country  at  from  two  to  five 
million,  and  they  have  been  vigorously  reducing  it  by  their 
savage  punitive  expeditions  in  the  interior.  The  French 
authorities  of  the  Kongo-Frangais  estimate  theirs  at  from 
five  to  ten  million. 

The  population  of  the  great  Kongo  River  was  much  over- 
estimated after  the  opening  of  that  river  by  Stanley.  Its 
people   were  massed  on  the  river  banks,  and  gave  an  im- 


240  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

pression  of  density  which  subsequent  interior  travel  has 
not  verified.  To  walk  slowly  in  an  hour  over  a  mile  of  road 
that  constitutes  the  one  street  of  a  town ;  to  count  the  huts, 
and  allot  such  or  such  a  number  to  each,  would  give  a  suffi- 
ciently accurate  census  of  one  thousand  or  perhaps  two  thou- 
sand to  that  town.  But  that  place  is  the  centre  of  travel  or 
traffic  of  that  region.  A  half-day's  journey  on  any  radius 
from  that  town  through  the  surrounding  forest  would  con- 
front the  traveller  with  scarcely  any  other  evidences  of  human 
habitation.  Towns  of  the  thousands  are  not  the  usual  sight ; 
rather  the  villages  of  one  hundred,  and  the  hamlets  of  twenty, 
excepting  in  the  Sudan,  in  the  Yoruba  and  other  countries 
of  the  Niger,  and  in  the  large  capitals  of  Dahomey  and  other 
Guinea  kingdoms.  There  walled  cities  of  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants  are  known. 

These  congested  districts  help  to  lift  the  average  that 
would  be  made  low  by  the  paucity  in  the  wilderness  and 
desert  portions.  Probably  the  population  of  the  entire  con- 
tinent was  much  greater  two  hundred  years  ago.  Depopula- 
tion was  hastened  by  the  export  slave-trade.  Livingstone 
estimated  that,  on  the  East  Coast,  for  every  slave  actually 
exported,  nineteen  others  died  on  the  way.  The  foreign 
slave-trade  has  long  ceased,  except  from  the  Upper  Nile 
down  through  Egypt  and  Arabia,  and  from  the  Sudan  across 
the  Sahara  to  Morocco.  But  far  worse  than  Arab  slave-trade 
are  the  diabolical  atrocities,  committed  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  and  actually  at  the  present  time,  in  the  Kongo,  under 
white  officers  of  the  miscalled  "Free  State,"  and  with  the 
knowledge  and  allowance  of  the  King  of  Belgium. 

But,  aside  from  all  these  and  other  civil  and  political 
causes,  the  fetich  religion  of  Africa  has  been  a  large  part 
of  its  destruction.  It  has  been  a  Moloch,  whose  hunger 
for  victims  was  never  satisfied :  as  illustrated  in  the  annual 
sacrifice  of  hundreds  and  thousands  by  the  priests  of  the 
kings  of  Dahomey  and  Ashanti;  and  the  burial  victims  at 
the  funerals  of  great  kings,  as  in  Uganda  and  all  over  the 
continent.     If  the  destruction  of  such  human  victims  is  not 


ITS   PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  241 

so  great  to-day  as  it  was  twenty  years  ago,  due  to  enlighten- 
ment by  Christian  missions  and  forceful  prohibition  by  civi- 
lized governments,  the  spirit  of  and  disposition  to  destruction 
is  not  eradicated;  it  is  only  suppressed.  It  is  so  deep  seated 
and  ingrained  as  a  i)art  of  religion,  that  it  is  among  the  very 
last  of  the  shadows  of  heathenism  to  disappear  after  individ- 
uals or  tribes  are  apparently  civilized  and  enlightened.  Under 
transforming  influences  the  native  has  been  lifted  from  dis- 
honesty to  honesty,  from  untruth  to  truth,  from  immorality 
to  virtue,  from  heathenism  to  Christianity;  and  yet  there 
still  clings  to  him,  though  he  no  longer  worships  the  fetich, 
a  belief  in  and  fear  of  it.  The  presence  of  foreign  govern- 
ments can  and  does  prevent  witchcraft  murder  for  the 
dead;  but  if  these  governments  were  withdrawn  from 
English  Sierra  Leone,  French  Kongo-Frangais,  and  other 
partitions  of  Africa,  the  witchcraft  ordeal  and  murder  would 
be  at  once  resumed.  And  no  wonder.  Inbred  beliefs, 
deepened  by  millenniums  of  years  of  practice,  are  not  elimi- 
nated by  even  a  century  of  foreign  teaching.  Costume  of 
body  and  fashion  of  dress  are  easily  and  voluntarily  changed; 
not  so  the  essence  of  one's  being. 

Under  the  assurance  that  a  consecrated  charm  can  be  made 
for  the  accomplishment  of  any  purpose  whatever,  it  results 
that  almost  every  native  African  heathen,  in  hours  of  fear  or 
anger  or  revenge,  has  made,  or  has  had  made,  for  himself 
amulets,  or  has  performed  rites  intended  to  compass  an 
injury  to,  and  perhaps  the  death  of,  some  other  person. 
Should  that  other  die,  even  as  long  a  time  as  a  year  after- 
ward, it  will  be  believed  that  that  fetich  amulet  or  act 
caused  the  death. 

It  follows,  therefore  (although  even  heathen  natives  do,  in 
rare  cases,  say  of  a  death,  "Yes,  Anzam  took  this  one,"  i.  e., 
that  he  died  a  natural  death),  that  almost  universally  at  any 
death  which  we  would  know  as  a  natural  one,  surviving 
relatives  and  friends  make  the  charge  of  witchcraft,  and  seek 
the  witch  or  wizard,  by  investigation  involving,  in  the  trial, 
torture,  or  ordeal  by  poison,  fire,  or  other  tests.     For  every 

16 


242  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

natural  death  at  least  one,  and  often  ten  or  more,  have  been 
executed  under  witchcraft  accusation. 

I  have  pleaded  for  the  lives  of  accused  when  I  believed 
them  innocent,  and  whenever  I  was  informed  that  an  in- 
vestigation was  in  progress,  I  said  to  the  crowd  assembled 
in  the  street,  "  When  you  kill  these  three  people  to-da}-, 
do  I  see  three  babies  born  to  take  their  place  in  the  num- 
ber of  the  inhabitants  of  your  village  ?  " 

The  Balengi  on  the  Benita  River,  among  whom  I  travelled 
in  1865-70,  were  then  a  large  tribe.  It  is  now  very  small, 
exterminated  largely  by  witchcraft  murders  for  th'e  dead. 
The  aged,  defenceless,  and  slaves  are  generally  selected  as 
victims.  But  no  one  is  secure.  Relatives  of  a  chief  who 
during  his  life  may  have  seemed  envious  of  his  power,  are 
often  suspected  and  put  to  death. 

For  the  determination  of  a  doubtful  cause  of  decease  post- 
mortems are  made,  but  not  on  any  rational  basis  or  with  any 
knowledge  of  anatomy.  In  the  autopsy  of  an  ordinary  person 
the  object  is  to  find  among  the  bowels  or  other  internal  organs 
some  sign  which  the  doctor-priest  may  declare  to  be  the  path 
of  the  supposed  sorcery-injected  destroying  spirit.  In  case 
of  a  magician,  the  object  is  to  see  whether  his  own  "  familiar  " 
had  "eaten  "  him.  Cavities  in  the  lungs  are  considered  proof 
positive  that  one's  own  power  has  destroyed  him.  The 
fimbriated  extremities  of  the  fallopian  tubes  of  a  uterus  are 
also  declared  to  be  "witch."  Their  ciliary  motions  on  dis- 
section are  regarded  as  a  sign  that  the  woman  was  a  witch. 
In  proof,  the  native  doctor  said  to  me,  "See!  those  are  the 
spirit-teeth.  Don't  you  see  how  they  move  and  extend  in 
desire  to  catch  and  eat?"  It  was  in  vain  that  I  declared 
to  him  that  if  that  was  true  then  every  woman  all  over  the 
world  was  a  witch,  and  that  he  was  bound  to  go  ahead  and 
kill  them  all ;  for  that  God  had  made  no  woman  without  those 
things.  (Was  this  "  doctor's  "  idea  the  same  reason  for  which 
the  old  anatomists  called  those  fimbriae  "morsus  Diaboli"?) 

In  Garenganze,  among  the  Barotse,^  "the  trial  for  witch- 

1  Arnot,  p.  76. 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  243 

craft  is  short  and  decisive.  If  one  nuin  suspects  another  of 
having  bewitched  him,  —  in  fact,  if  he  has  a  grudge  against 
him,  —  he  brings  him  before  the  council,  and  the  ordeal  of 
the  boiling  pot  is  resorted  to.  My  proposal  is  that  if  they 
consider  it  a  fair  trial  of  '  whiteness  '  or  '  blackness  '  of 
heart,  as  they  call  it,  then  let  both  the  accuser  and  the 
accused  put  their  hands  into  the  boiling  water.  The  king 
is  strongly  in  favor  of  this  proposal,  and  would  try  any 
means  to  stop  this  fearful  system  of  murder  which  is  thin- 
ning out  many  of  his  best  men;  but  the  nation  is  so  strongly 
in  favor  of  the  practice  that  he  can  do  nothing.  An  old 
friend  of  mine,  Wizini,  who  took  quite  a  fatherly  care  and 
interest  in  me,  for  some  peculiar  reason  of  his  own,  was 
charged  with  witchcraft.  He  pleaded  earnestly  to  be  spared 
the  terrible  trial,  and  was  reprieved  because  of  his  years,  but 
banished  from  his  people  and  country  for  life,  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  a  neighbor  had  an  ill  feeling  against  him. 
Had  he  been  first  to  the  king  with  his  complaint,  he  might 
have  gotten  his  neighbor  burned  or  banished  instead  of  him- 
self. .  .  .  Their  punishments  are  very  cruel.  Burning  alive 
is,  among  the  Barotse,  a  common  occurrence ;  also  tying  the 
victim  hand  and  foot  and  laying  him  near  a  nest  of  large 
black  ('  driver ')  ants,  which  in  a  few  days  pick  his  bones 
clean." 

But  it  is  well  to  repeat  my  own  qualification  of  most 
statements  about  "  African "  customs,  which  Arnot  makes 
in  connection  with  the  above,  that,  "when  manners  and 
customs  are  referred  to,  the  particular  district  must  be 
borne  in  mind.  Africa  is  an  immense  continent,  and  there 
is  as  much  variety  in  the  customs  of  the  different  tribes  as 
in  their  languages.  Certain  tribes  take  delight  in  cruelty 
and  bloodshed;  others  have  a  religious  fear  of  shedding 
human  blood,  and  treat  aged  people  with  every  kindness, 
to  secure  their  good-will  after  death.  By  other  tribes  the 
aged  would  be  cast  out  as  mere  food  for  wild  animals." 

The  testimony  of  Decl^  ^  as  to  the  tribes  of  South-Central 

1  Three  Years  iu  Savage  Africa,  p.  512. 


244  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Africa  is:  "You  would  suppose  that  the  African  expected 
everybody  to  live  forever,  since  his  one  explanation  of  death 
is  an  immediate  recourse  to  witchcraft.  It  is  hardly  an  ex- 
aggeration to  say  that  every  natural  death  entails  a  violent 
one  as  its  consequence.  Along  with  witchcraft  and  the 
inevitable  accusation  of  sorcery  when  one  dies,  goes  the 
custom  of  '  muavi,'  the  ordeal  by  poison.  ...  It  is  plain 
what  complete  domination  this  practice  has  got  over  the 
native  mind.  The  reason  is  that  he  thoroughly  believes  in 
its  efficiency.  My  own  porters  have  constantly  offered  to 
submit  to  the  ordeal  on  the  most  trivial  charges.  Of  course, 
this  thorough  belief  in  '  muavi  '  hands  the  native  over  com- 
pletely defenceless  to  the  witch  doctor.  The  doctor  can 
get  rid  of  anybody  he  likes  to.  Besides  this,  he  is  a  kind 
of  public  prosecutor;  that  is  to  say,  that  when  he  accuses 
any  man  or  woman  of  sorcery,  he  is  not  obliged,  like  any 
ordinary  accuser,  to  take  the  poison  himself." 

The  "ordeal "  or  test  of  the  innocence  of  a  person  accused 
of  practising  witchcraft  or  of  having  caused  the  death  of  an}^ 
one  (except  in  places  where  Christianity  has  attained  power), 
is  almost  the  same  now  as  that  described  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L. 
Wilson,  and  subsequently  by  Du  Chaillu,  as  existing  fifty 
years  ago  on  the  entire  West  Coast  of  Africa.  On  the  Upper 
Guinea  coasts  it  is  called  the  "red  water."  "It  is  a  decoc- 
tion made  from  the  inner  bark  of  a  large  forest  tree  of  the 
mimosa  family."  At  Calabar  a  bean  was  used,  an  extract  of 
which  since  has  been  employed  in  our  pharmacopoeia,  in  sur- 
gical operations  of  the  eye. 

In  the  Gabun  country  the  bark  and  leaves  of  a  small  tree 
called  "  akazya  "  are  used.  Farther  south,  in  the  Nkami 
(miswritten,  "  Camma  ")  country,  it  is  called  "mbundu." 

The  decoction  itself  is  supposed  to  have  almost  sentience, 
—  an  ability  to  follow,  in  the  various  organs  of  the  body,  like 
a  policeman,  and  detect  and  destroy  the  witch -spirit  supposed 
to  be  lurking  about. 

Accused  persons  sometimes  even  demand  that  they  be 
given  the  ordeal.     This  an  innocent  person  could  fearlessly 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  245 

do,  feeling  sure  of  his  innocence,  and  thinking,  as  any  lionest 
person  in  a  civilized  country  charged  with  theft  would  feel, 
that  it  was  perfectly  safe  to  have  his  house  searched,  sure 
that  no  stolen  article  was  secreted  there.  So  here  the  ig- 
norant native  is  willing  to  take  this  poison,  not  looking  on 
it  as  what  we  call  "poison." 

People  who  know  that  they  have  at  times  used  witchcraft 
arts  will  naturally  be  unwilling  to  undergo  the  test;  but  if 
the  charge  is  made  after  a  death,  an  accused  is  compelled  to 
drink.  "  If  it  nauseates  and  causes  him  to  vomit  freely,  he 
suffers  no  injury,  and  is  at  once  pronounced  innocent.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  causes  vertigo,  and  he  loses  his  self- 
control,  it  is  regarded  as  evidence  of  guilt ;  and  then  all  sorts 
of  indignities  and  cruelties  are  practised  on  him.  .  .  .  On 
the  other  hand,  if  he  escapes  Avithout  injury  his  character  is 
thoroughly  purified,  .  .  .  and  he  arraigns  before  the  prin- 
cipal men  of  the  town  his  accusers,  who  in  their  turn  must 
submit  to  the  same  ordeal,  or  pay  a  large  fine  to  the  man 
whom  they  attempted  to  injure.  .  .  .  There  is  seldom  any 
fairness  in  the  administration  of  the  ordeal.  No  particular 
quantity  of  the  '  red  water  '  is  prescribed."  The  doctor,  by 
collusion  and  family  favoritism,  may  make  the  decoction  very 
weak ;  or,  influenced  by  public  feeling  inimical  to  the  accused, 
he  may  compel  him  to  swallow  a  fatal  amount;  or  he  may 
save  his  life  by  a  subsequent  emetic.^ 

Cannibalism. 

African  cannibalism  has  been  regarded  as  only  a  barbar- 
ism; but  for  many  years  I  have  strongly  suspected  that  it 
had  some  connection  with  the  Negro's  religion.  It  may  be 
a  corollary  of  witchcraft. 

Declfe  intimates  the  same:^  "I  do  not  mean  such  can- 
nibalism as  that  of  certain  Kongo  tribes,  or  of  the  Solomon 
Islanders,  who  kill  people  to  eat  them,  as  we  eat  game. 
With  such  tribes  I  did  not  come  in  contact.  But  there  is 
another  form  of  cannibalism  less  generally  known  to  Euro- 

1  Wilson.  2  p  513. 


246  FETICHISM   IN  WEST  AFRICA 

peans,  and  perhaps  even  more  grisly,  which  consists  in 
digging  up  dead  bodies  to  feast  on  their  flesh.  This  prac- 
tice exists  largely  among  the  natives  in  the  region  of  Lake 
Nyasa.^  I  know  of  a  case  in  which  the  natives  of  a  village 
in  this  region  seized  the  opportunity  of  a  white  man's  pres- 
ence to  break  into  the  hut  of  one  of  these  reputed  can- 
nibals, and  found  there  a  human  leg  hanging  from  the 
rafters.  This  incident  shows  that  cannibalism  is  practised; 
but  also  that  it  is  not  universal  with  the  tribes  among 
whom  it  is  found,  and  is  condemned  by  the  public  opinion 
of  those  who  do  not  practise  it.  But  public  opinion  in 
Africa  is  not  a  highly  developed  power.  .  .  .  The  real 
public  opinion  is  witchcraft.  And,  indeed,  in  the  case  of 
cannibalism,  the  real  public  opinion  tends  to  shield  the 
perpetrators,  because  they  are  reputed  to  be  sorcerers  of 
high  quality." 

Rev.  Dr.  H.  C.  Trumbull,  in  his  "Blood  Covenant" 
(1893),  while  gathering  testimony  from  all  nations  to  illus- 
trate his  view  of  the  universality  of  blood  as  representing 
life,  and  the  heart  as  the  seat  of  life,  as  a  part  of  the  religious 
rite  of  a  covenant,  comes  incidentally  on  this  same  idea  of 
cannibalism  as  having  a  religious  significance,  or  at  least,  as 
I  have  expressed  above,  as  a  corollary  of  witchcraft.  This 
will  explain  why  the  African  cannibal,  in  conquering  his 
enemy,  also  eats  him;  why  the  heart  is  especially  desired  in 
such  -feasts ;  and  why  the  body  of  any  one  of  distinguished 
characteristics  is  prized  for  the  cannibal  feast.  His  strength 
or  skill  or  bravery  or  power  is  to  be  absorbed  along  with  his 
flesh. 

Trumbull  ^  quotes  from  R^ville,  the  representative  com- 
parative religionist  of  France:  "Here  you  will  recognize 
the  idea  so  widely  spread  in  the  two  Americas,  and  indeed 
almost  everywhere  amongst  uncivilized  people  (nor  is  it 
limited  to  the  uncivilized),  that  the  heart  is  the  epitome, 

1  I  know  of  its  occurring  on  the  Gabun  and  Ogowe  rivers  on  the  West 
Coast.  —  R.  H.  N. 

2  P.  107. 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  247 

so  to  speak,  of  the  individual,  —  liis  soul  in  some  sense,  — 
so  that  to  appropriate  his  heart  is  to  appropriate  his  wliole 
being." 

A  constant  charge  against  sorcerers  in  West  African  tribes 
is  that  they  have  made  a  person  sick  by  stealing  and  eating 
the  sick  one's  "heart,"  and  that  the  invalid  cannot  recover 
till  the  "heart  "  is  returned. 

Also,  see  Trumbull:^  "The  widespread  popular  supersti- 
tion of  the  Vampire  and  of  the  ghoul  seems  to  be  an  out- 
growth of  this  universal  belief  that  transfused  blood  is 
revivifying.  The  bloodless  shades,  leaving  their  graves  at 
night,  seek  renewed  life  by  drawing  out  the  blood  of  those 
Avho  sleep,  taking  the  life  of  the  living  to  supply  temporary 
life  to  the  dead.  .  .  .  An  added  force  is  given  to  all  these 
illustrations  of  the  universal  belief  that  transferred  blood 
has  a  vivifying  power,  by  the  conclusions  of  modern  medical 
science  concerning  the  possible  benefits  of  blood-transfusion. 
The  primitive  belief  seems  to  have  had  a  sound  basis  in  scien- 
tific fact." 

Histories  of  our  American  Indians  are  full  of  incidents 
showing  how  the  heart  of  a  captive  who  in  cljing  had 
exhibited  bravery  in  the  endurance  of  torture,  was  promptly 
cut  in  pieces  and  eaten,  to  absorb  his  courage. 

"The  Ashanti  fetichmen  of  West  Africa,  apparently  act- 
ing on  a  kindred  thought,  make  a  mixture  of  tlie  hearts  of 
enemies  mingled  with  blood  and  consecrated  herbs,  for  the 
vivifying  of  the  conquerors," 

"In  South  Africa,  among  the  Amampondo,  one  of  the 
Kaffir  tribes,  it  is  customary  for  the  chief,  on  his  accession 
to  authority,  to  be  washed  in  the  blood  of  a  near  relative, 
generally  a  brother,  who  is  put  to  death  on  the  Occasion,  and 
has  his  skull  used  as  a  receptacle  for  blood."  ^ 

Secret  Societies. 

Another  outcome  of  witchcraft  belief  is  the  formation  of 
secret  societies,  both  male  and   female,  of   crushing  power 

1  P.  115.  2  TrumbuU,  p.  129. 


248  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

and  far-reaching  influence,  which,  in  one  aspect  of  their 
influence,  the  governmental,  were  the  only  authority,  before 
the  intrusion  of  foreign  powers,  which  could  settle  a  fierce 
personal  dispute  or  enforce  intertribal  peace.  But  their 
possibilities  for  good  were  overbalanced  by  their  actualities 
of  evil. 

Among  these  societies  I  have,  in  a  previous  chapter,  men- 
tioned as  governmental  agencies  the  Egbo  of  the  Niger  Delta, 
Ukuku  of  the  Corisco  region,  and  Yasi  of  the  Ogowe.  There 
is  also  in  the  Gabun  region  of  the  equator,  among  the 
Shekani,  Mwetyi;  among  the  Bakele,  Bweti;  among  the 
Mpongwe-speaking  tribes,  Inda  and  Njembe;  and  Ukuku 
and  Malinda  in  the  Batanga  regions. 

A  detailed  account  of  the  ceremonies  of  an  initiation  into 
Malinda  is  contained  in  Chapter  XVI. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  mentioned  my  own  coming  in 
contact  with  Ukuku  and  Yasi. 

All  these  societies  had  for  their  primary  object  the  good 
one  of  government,  for  this  purpose  holding  the  fetich  in 
terror;  but  the  means  used  were  so  arbitrary,  the  influ- 
ences employed  so  oppressive,  and  the  representations  so 
false,  that  they  almost  all  were  evil.  Most  of  them  are 
now  discontinued  as  a  tribal  power  by  the  presence  of 
foreign  governments,  the  foreign  power  having  actually 
come  in  conflict  with  some  of  them,  as  in  the  case  of  Eng- 
land recently  with  the  Aro  of  Nigeria;  or,  where  they  still 
exist,  they  have  degenerated  to  mere  amusement,  as  Ukukwe, 
in  Gabun;  or  are  kept  up  as  a  traditional  fashion,  as  Njembe. 

But  they  all  exist,  as  described  by  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson  a 
generation  ago,  and  are  at  this  very  present  among  the 
tribes  of  the  interior,  where  foreign  government  is  as  yet 
only  nominal. 

Mwetyi  "is  a  great  spirit,  who  is  supposed  to  dwell  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  but  comes  to  the  surface  of  the  ground 
at  stated  seasons,  or  when  summoned  on  any  special  busi- 
ness. A  large  flat  house  of  peculiar  form  is  erected  in  the 
middle  of  the  village  for  the  temporary  sojourn  of  this  spirit. 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  249 

The  house  is  always  kept  perfectly  dark,  and  no  one  is  per- 
mitted to  enter  it,  except  those  who  have  been  initiated  into 
all  the  mysteries  of  the  order,  which  includes,  however,  al- 
most the  whole  of  the  adult  male  population  of  the  village. 
.  .  .  When  Mwetyi  is  about  to  retire  from  a  village,  the 
women,  children,  uninitiated  lads,  and  any  strangers  who 
may  be  there  at  the  time,  are  required  to  leave  the  village." 

"Inda  is  an  association  whose  membership  is  confined  to 
the  adult  male  population.  It  is  headed  by  a  spirit  of  that 
name,  who  dwells  in  the  woods,  and  appears  only  when  sum- 
moned by  some  unusual  event, — at  the  death  of  a  person 
connected  with  the  order,  at  the  birth  of  twins,  or  at  the 
inauguration  of  some  one  into  office.  ...  If  a  distinguished 
person  dies,  Inda  affects  great  rage,  and  comes  the  follow- 
ing night  with  a  large  posse  of  men  to  seize  the  property  of 
the  villagers  without  discrimination.  He  is  sure  to  lay  hands 
on  as  many  sheep  and  goats  as  are  necessary  to  make  a  grand 
feast,  and  no  man  has  any  right  to  complain.  .  .  .  The  in- 
stitution of  Inda,  like  that  of  Mwetyi,  is  intended  to  keep 
the  women,  children,  and  slaves  in  subjection." 

"Njembe  is  a  pretty  fair  counterpart  of  Inda,  but  there  is 
no  special  spirit  nor  any  particular  person  representing  it." 
Its  power  resides  in  the  society  as  a  body,  and  rests  on  the 
threat  of  the  employment  of  fetich  medicines  to  injure 
recalcitrant  persons.  Only  women  are  admitted  to  it.  A 
very  considerable  fee  is  demanded  for  admission  to  member- 
ship. Formerly  it  was  considered  an  honor  to  be  allowed 
to  be  initiated;  now,  to  perpetuate  itself,  it  compels  young 
women  to  enter  it,  especially  if  they  have  made  derogatory 
remarks  about  Njembe.  The  initiation  then  becomes  a  kind 
of  punishment.  Strange  to  say,  young  women  thus  com- 
pelled to  enter  accept  the  society,  and  become  zealous  to 
drag  others  in.  The  initiation  occupies  about  two  weeks, 
and  is  accompanied  with  harsh  treatment.  Njembe  has  no 
special  meeting-house.  They  assemble  in  a  cleared  place  in 
the  centre  of  a  jungle,  where  their  doings  are  unseen  by  out- 
siders by  night  or  day.     Nothing  is  known  of  their  rites,  ex- 


250  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

cept  that  they  dance  in  a  nude  state,  and  the  songs  of  their 
dances  are  openly  heard,  and  are  often  of  the  vilest  character. 

"  They  pretend  to  detect  thieves,  to  find  out  the  secrets  of 
their  enemies,"  to  direct  women  in  pregnancy,  and  in  other 
ways  claim  to  be  useful. 

"  The  object  of  the  institution  originally,  no  doubt,  was  to 
protect  the  females  from  harsh  treatment  on  the  part  of  their 
husbands." 

As  a  rule,  the  Mpongwe  women  say  that  every  woman 
should  be  in  the  Njembe  Society;  so,  at  a  certain  age  of  a 
girl,  they  decide  that  she  shall  "go  in."  But  she  is  not 
always  put  through  all  the  ceremonies  at  once.  She  may  be 
subjected  to  only  a  part  of  the  initiation,  the  remainder  to  be 
performed  at  another  time. 

The  special  occasion  for  an  initiation  may  be  perhaps  be- 
cause the  spirit  of  some  recently  dead  member  wants  a  new 
one  to  take  her  place ;  or  if  any  young  woman  has  escaped 
being  initiated  during  her  youth  or  if  she  is  charged  with 
having  spoken  derisively  of  Njembe,  she  may  be  seized  by 
force  and  compelled  to  go  through  the  rite. 

The  entire  process  so  beats  down  the  will  of  the  novices 
and  terrorizes  them,  that  even  those  who  have  been  forced 
into  it  against  their  will,  when  they  emerge  at  the  close  of 
the  rite,  most  inviolably  preserve  its  secrets,  and  express 
themselves  as  pleased. 

Just  before  the  novices  or  "pupils  "  are  to  enter,  they  have 
to  prepare  a  great  deal  of  food,  —  as  much  as  they  can  pos- 
sibly obtain  of  cassava,  fish,  and  plantains.  Two  days  are 
spent,  before  the  ceremonies  begin,  in  cooking  this  food. 
They  make  big  bundles  of  ng^nda  (gourd  seed)  pudding, 
others  of  ground-nuts  and  odika  (oily  kernel  of  the  wild 
mango),  pots  of  odika  and  fish  boiled,  boiled  hard  plantains, 
and  ripe  plantains  beaten  into  rolls  called  "fufu."  This  food 
is  to  be  eaten  by  them  and  the  older  members  of  the  society 
the  first  night. 

Those  older  ones,  as  a  part  of  the  hazing  which  they 
always  practise,  deceive  the  new  ones  by  advising  them  in 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  251 

advance:  "Eat  no  supper  this  evening.  Save  up  your  ap- 
petite. All  this  food  you  have  prepared  is  your  own,  and 
you  will  be  satiated  at  the  feast  to-night."  This  is  said  in 
order  to  play  a  hard  joke  on  them.  But  sometimes  a  more 
tender-hearted  relative  will  pity  them,  and  will  privately 
warn  them  to  eat  something,  knowing  that  they  will  be  up 
all  night,  and  that  the  older  members  intend  to  seize  and  eat 
what  these  "pupils"  had  prepared  for  themselves,  allowing 
the  latter  to  be  faint  with  hunger. 

That  evening  the  society  goes  into  the  adjacent  jungle,  the 
spot  selected  including  a  small  stream  of  water.  There  they 
clear  a  small  space  for  their  ceremonies.  They  dance  all 
night,  part  of  the  time  in  this  camp,  and  part  of  the  time 
in  the  street  of  the  town,  but  always  going  back  to  the  camp 
at  some  early  morning  hour. 

On  the  second  day  they  come  to  town,  dance  there  a  little 
while,  and  then  go  back  to  the  forest.  They  beat  constantly 
and  monotonously,  without  time,  a  short  straight  stick  on 
a  somewhat  crescent-shaped  piece  of  board  (orega)  that  is 
slightly  concave  on  one  side.  It  makes  a  clear  but  not  a 
musical  note;  is  heard  quite  far,  and  is  the  distinctive  sign 
of  the  Njembe  Society.  No  other  persons  own  or  will  strike 
the  orega  music. 

In  the  part  of  the  ceremonies  that  are  public  in  the  village 
street,  a  man  is  invited  to  assist  by  beating  on  a  drum,  a 
matter  in  which  women  here  are  not  expert.  This  drum  does 
not  exclude  the  orega,  several  of  which  may  be  beaten  at  the 
same  time ;  at  least  one  must  be  kept  sounding  during  the 
whole  two  weeks  by  one  or  another  of  the  candidates,  or 
if  these  become  exhausted,  by  some  other  member  of  the 
society. 

One  of  the  first  public  preparations  is  the  bending  of  a 
limber  pole  (ilala)  as  an  arch,  or  two  branches,  their  tops 
woven  together,  over  the  path  entering  the  village.  They 
are  wreathed  with  lycopodium  ferns,  and  at  their  bases 
are  stuck  a  young,  short,  recently  half-unfolded  palm-leaf, 
painted  with  Njembe  dots  of  white,  red,  and  black.     At  the 


252  -FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

distance  of  a  few  hundred  feet  may  be  another  ilala;  indeed, 
there  may  be  several  of  them  on  the  way  to  the  camp. 

While  dancing  during  the  first  few  days,  the  society  occu- 
pies itself  with  preparations,  unknown  to  the  public,  for  their 
"work"  in  the  camp.  Thither  come  older  members  from 
afar,  especially  those  related  to  the  candidates. 

Certain  women  skilled  in  the  Njembe  dances  and  rules  are 
called  "teachers."  The  first  step  which  an  already  initiated 
member  takes  to  become  a  "  teacher "  is  to  find  and  intro- 
duce a  new  recruit,  with  whom  she  must  again  go  through 
all  the  rites  of  initiation  more  severely  than  at  her  first  ex- 
perience. She  makes  herself  perfect  in  the  lessons  impressed 
on  her  by  impressing  them  on  the  new  pupil.  The  pro- 
spective "teacher"  has  thus  to  endure,  in  this  second  passage 
through  the  rites,  all  and  more  than  is  put  on  the  novice. 
Little  as  is  known  of  these  rites,  it  is  certain  they  are  severe. 

In  the  singing,  each  song  is  known  by  its  own  descriptive 
motions.  The  motion  mentioned  is  to  be  actually  performed, 
however  difficult  or  immodest  it  may  be.  Generally  the  im- 
modest portions  are  reserved  for  the  seclusion  of  their  camp ; 
but  the  words  sung  at  the  camp  can  be  heard  at  the  village, 
so  that  all  hear  them,  —  men,  women,  and  little  children. 

One  common  public  song  has  for  its  refrain,  "  Look  at  the 
sun";  while  that  song  is  being  danced,  the  candidate  must 
gaze  steadily  at  the  hot  sun,  even  if  it  be  blinding.  Most  of 
the  "rules"  (and  the  teacher  may  invent  as  many  new  ones 
as  she  chooses)  are  purposely  hard  in  order  to  make  the  can- 
didate suffer,  and  as  part  of  the  process  of  breaking  her  will, 
and  ensuring  secrecy  by  a  reign  of  terror. 

Also  most  of  the  nights  the  candidate  (or  several  of  them 
if  there  are  a  number)  must  spend  hours  in  keeping  a  fire 
burning  in  some  part  of  the  forest.  That  fire,  once  started, 
must  be  kept  burning  day  and  night  during  the  whole  two 
weeks.  A  girl  who  in  ordinary  times  would  be  afraid  to 
go  out  into  the  forest  alone  at  night,  will,  under  the  Njembe 
initiation,  go  out  in  storm  and  rain  to  see  that  the  fire  is 
not  extinguished.     Sometimes  the  teacher  will    lighten  the 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  253 

task  for  her  by  accompanying  her;  or  some  one,  pitying,  will 
help  to  gather  the  dead  wood  with  which  the  fire  is  kept 
smouldering. 

There  are  also  rules  for  the  breaking  of  which  there  are 
fines,  c.  ^.,  "When  you  are  dancing  in  public  during  the  in- 
itiation, do  not  laugh  aloud."  Another  rule  is  that  no  salu- 
tation is  to  be  given  or  received,  nor  the  person  or  even  the 
clothing  of  a  visitor  touched  by  a  candidate. 

The  teacher  must  be  quick  to  imitate,  in  this  her  second 
"  degree  "  or  passage  through  the  rites,  the  rapid  motions  of 
the  skilled  older  one  who  is  teaching  her  and  her  new 
recruit. 

In  order  to  increase  the  severity,  the  pupil,  though  she  may 
be  already  wearied,  is  required  to  repeat  her  dance  before 
every  newcomer  or  spectator.  The  teacher  will  start  the 
beat  of  the  orega  and  take  a  few  steps  of  the  dance,  and 
then  stop  and  rest  comfortably,  the  tired  pupil  taking  the 
orega  and  continuing  the  dance. 

If  pupils  are  sulky  or  shy,  their  teacher  and  other  older 
members  will  scold  them:  "Go  on!  dance!  You  may  not 
stand  or  rest  there !  Go  on !  You !  this  girl  with  your  awk- 
wardness! Do  you  own  the  Njembe?"  Sometimes  a  pupil 
is  sulky  or  stubborn,  or,  disheartened,  begins  to  cry.  No 
mercy  is  shown  her.  Others,  in  anxiously  trying  to  follow 
motions,  will  make  absurd  mistakes,  and  bring  down  on  them- 
selves the  derision  of  the  spectators.  Some  pupils  really  like 
the  dancing,  and  endeavor  to  learn  quickly.  Such  as  these 
are  praised :  "  This  one  knows,  and  she  will  some  day  be  a 
teacher." 

It  is  expected  that  the  relatives  of  the  pupils  will  be  pres- 
ent and  encourage  them  with  some  little  gifts. 

It  is  remarkable  how  well  the  secrets  of  the  society  are 
kept.  No  one  has  ever  been  induced  to  reveal  them.  Those 
who  have  left  the  society  and  have  become  Christians  do  not 
tell.  Foreigners  have  again  and  again  tried  to  bribe,  but  in 
vain.  Traders  and  others  have  tried  to  induce  their  native 
wives  to  reveal ;  but  these  women,  obedient  to  any  extent  on 


254  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

all  other  matters,  maintain  a  stubborn  silence.  Nothing  is 
known  outside  of  the  society  of  their  doings  in  their  camp, 
except  that  they  are  all  naked,  lay  aside  all  modesty,  make 
personal  examinations  of  each  other's  bodies,  sing  phallic 
songs,  and  indulge  in  the  hardest,  severest,  and  most  violent 
insults  and  curses  heaped  up  in  assumed  wrath  as  jokes 
on  each  other.  It  is  really  a  school  in  which  to  learn  the 
fine  art  of  using  insults  and  curses  which  will  be  utilized 
outside  the  society,  upon  other  persons  on  occasions  of  real 
anger.  No  man  can  equal  these  women  in  their  volubility 
and  bitter  tirades  when  really  angry.    It  is  Billingsgate  in  its 

glory- 
After  keeping  up  the  ceremonies  for  a  number  of  days,  the 
society  chooses  one  for  their  "last."  The  day  preceding  it, 
they  go  out  in  procession  with  baskets,  kettles,  and  basins, 
from  village  to  village,  still  singing,  the  song  being  adapted 
for  their  errand  of  begging,  and  still  beating  the  orega, 
to  get  offerings  of  food,  or  gifts  of  rum,  tobacco,  plates, 
and  cloth.  (In  a  civilized  religious  worship  this  would  be 
the  taking  up  of  the  collection.)  At  each  village  on  their 
route  any  member  of  the  society  will  direct  one  of  the  new 
pupils  to  dance,  as  an  exhibition  of  her  recently  acquired 
ability.  She  does  not  hesitate,  but  asks,  "  Which  dance  ?  " 
The  teacher  replies,  "I  will  show  you, "  and  starting  a  few 
steps  measured,  she  stops,  and  the  designated  pupil  takes 
it  up. 

During  the  initiation  the  pupils  are  required  to  go  bare- 
footed ;  and  if  they  have  been  wearing  dresses,  the  dresses 
are  taken  off  and  only  a  native  cloth  worn.  But  a  slight 
concession  has  occasionally  been  made  in  favor  of  some  mis- 
sion-school girls  when  forced  into  Njembe,  who,  accustomed 
to  dresses,  were  allowed  to  wear  them  when  walking  in  this 
public  collecting  procession. 

The  night  of  the  day  on  which  they  come  back  from  this 
collecting  of  gifts  is  the  "last  night."  Dancing  is  then  done 
by  all,  both  by  the  teachers  and  the  pupils. 

It  is  not  known  who  is  leader.     One  is  spoken  of  as  the 


ITS   PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  255 

"Mother,"  but  it  is  not  known  who  she  is.  The  chief  teacher 
is  seen  whenever  they  come  from  their  camp,  and  is  known 
by  the  colored  chalk  markings  different  from  others. 

The  next  morning,  the  morning  of  the  "last  day,"  all  go 
out  fishing,  young  and  old,  along  the  river  or  sea  beach.  This 
fishing  is  done  among  the  muddy  roots  of  the  mangrove  trees. 
They  gather  shell -fish  of  different  kinds.  But  whatever  they 
do  or  do  not  obtain,  they  do  not  return  till  each  one  has 
caught  a  small  common  snake  which  lives  in  holes  at  the 
mangrove  roots.  The  sound  of  the  orSga  (which  is  still  con- 
stantly beaten)  seems  to  act  as  a  charm,  and  the  snake 
emerges  from  its  hole  and  is  readily  caught;  or  the  hand  is 
boldly  thrust  into  the  hole  in  search  of  the  reptile.  In  start- 
ing out  on  this  fishing  the  new  members  do  not  know  that 
tliey  are  to  handle  snakes.  They  go  as  on  a  happy  fishing 
excursion.  Really,  it  is  their  final  test.  They  are  told  to 
put  their  hands  into  these  holes,  and  not  to  let  go  of  the 
"fish"  they  shall  seize  there.  The  novice  obeys,  but  pres- 
ently screams  in  alarm  as  she  feels  a  snake-like  form  wriggling 
about  her  hand.  Her  teacher  terribly  threatens  her;  she  begs 
to  be  excused,  dares  not  let  go,  and  is  compelled  to  pull  out 
the  snake  twining  about  her  arm.  They  all  then  return  to 
the  camp,  each  with  her  snake  in  her  basket.  It  is  not 
known  what  is  done  with  these  snakes. 

The  teacher  is  to  be  paid  for  her  services.  As  the  pupils 
come  from  different  villages,  each  one  has  to  ask  her  teacher's 
permission  to  go  to  her  relatives  to  collect  the  fee.  This  is 
done  a  few  days  before  the  final  day.  They  are  allowed  to 
go,  but  with  an  escort  to  watch  them  that  they  break  no  rule 
of  the  initiation.  They  do  not  go  into  the  houses,  nor  do 
they  speak.  They  stand  in  the  street.  Those  who  escort 
them  have  to  do  the  talking,  thus :  "  We  have  come  to  collect 
our  money,  as  the  Njembe  will  soon  be  done."  If  they  get 
a  plenty,  the  pupils  are  glad ;  otherwise  they  have  to  stand  in 
the  hot  sun  uncovered,  except  by  their  crown-like  wreath  of 
lycopodium  fern.  It  is  a  trying  and  humiliating  position  for 
any  girl  whose  people  are  poor  or  unwilling.     She  must  stand 


256  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

there  till  some  one  of  her  people  shall  contribute  what  the 
escort  deems  sufficient. 

Having  collected  each  her  fee  for  the  teacher,  the  pupils  go 
back  to  her  at  the  village,  and  seat  themselves  on  the  ground 
under  the  eaves  of  the  houses  on  one  side  of  the  street,  each 
with  her  pile  of  goods  near  her.  The  teacher  eyes  these 
piles,  and  selects  the  girl  who  apparently  has  the  most,  to 
be  the  first  to  begin  to  pay.  Just  previous  to  this,  stalks  of 
amomum  are  laid  down  in  the  street,  parallel  to  each  other, 
about  eighteen  inches  apart,  in  number  according  with  the 
teacher's  random  guess  of  the  number  of  articles  in  the 
chosen  pile.  Then  she  lays  the  articles  of  the  pile,  one  by 
one,  on  the  amomum  stalk.  Then  another  of  the  teachers 
seizes  the  hand  of  the  girl  who  owned  these  goods,  and  swing- 
ing her  from  side  to  side,  runs  with  her  rapidly  over  that  line 
of  goods,  herself  stepping  carefully  on  the  interspaces,  but 
apparently  trying  to  confuse  the  girl  into  stepping  on  and 
breaking  some  one  of  the  articles,  c.  g.,  a  mirror  or  a  plate. 
This  ordeal  safely  passed,  the  goods  of  that  girl  are  ac- 
cepted and  put  aside  near  the  teacher.  The  goods  of  each 
of  the  other  new  girls  are  treated  in  the  same  way,  and 
laid,  one  by  one,  on  the  amomum  stalks. 

The  number  of  some  girl's  articles  may  not  equal  the 
standard  -set  by  the  first,  and  there  may  be  not  enough 
to  cover  every  stalk.  In  that  case  the  teacher  will  allow 
some  article,  e.  g.^  a  head  of  tobacco-leaves,  to  be  opened  and 
its  separate  leaves  used  to  piece  out  the  number.  Neverthe- 
less, she  will  demand  that  something  be  added.  It  is  an 
anxious  time  for  the  pupils,  watching  to  see  whether  their 
fee  is  accepted.  Sometimes  the  teacher,  seeing  that  a  girl's 
pile  of  goods  is  small,  will  not  even  attempt  to  count  or 
divide  it,  but,  looking  at  it,  sneeringly  says,  "I  see  noth- 
ing here !  Sit  you  there  in  the  sun  till  some  one  brings  you 
more ! " 

The  last  act  of  the  "last  day,"  before  adjourning,  is  a 
public  dance  called  Njgga  (Leopard).  For  that,  the  mem- 
bers of   the  society,  and   most   spectators,  dress  up   in  fine 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  257 

clothes.  It  is  performed  in  the  afternoon,  and  visitors  go  to 
see  it.  The  "Leopard"  is  done  by  tlie  teachers,  two  at  a 
time.  All  these  pairs  must  have  their  faces  painted,  each  in 
a  different  style,  no  piece  of  skin  left  untouched. 

In  beginning  the  Leopard  dance,  one  of  the  pair  imi- 
tates a  leopard  sneaking  around  the  corners  of  the  houses; 
while  the  other  one,  waiting,  has  collected  perhaps  a  dozen 
of  the  members  as  her  "children,"  whom  she  as  their 
"mother"  is  to  guard  from  the  "leopard."  This  teacher- 
mother  begins  a  song,  "Children!  there  is  the  leopard  in 
shape  of  a  person,"  adding  as  a  refrain  the  word,  "Mbwero! 
mbwero!  mbwero!"  which  is  repeated  rapidly  as  a  warning 
that  the  leopard  is  coming,  ending  with,  "  my  children !  " 
They  sing,  and  step  backward  and  forward  to  a  drum  accom- 
paniment. While  these  "children"  are  in  great  pretended 
excitement,  the  leopard  is  advancing  slowly,  steadily,  and 
nearer  from  the  ogwerina  (rear  of  the  houses)  into  the  street, 
with  extended  tongue,  and  growling.  When  the  mother  sees 
this,  her  dance  step  grows  quicker,  and  she  backs  and 
motions  to  her  children  behind  her,  they  imitating  all  her 
steps.  The  leopard  advances  with  a  swaying  step  in  time 
with  the  music,  and  then  suddenly  dashes  forward,  and 
catches  one  of  the  children,  and  sets  her  aside.  This  is  kept 
up  by  the  leopard  till  most  of  the  children  are  caught,  only 
one  or  two  being  left.  The  mother  then  seems  very  much  ex- 
hausted, with  a  sad  slow  step ;  but  the  leopard  at  last  catches 
the  others.  Now  that  her  children  are  all  dead,  the  mother  is 
aroused  to  fury.  The  conflict  remains  between  her  and  the 
leopard.  And  "mother"  must  finally  kill  "leopard."  The 
dance  becomes  very  much  more  rapid;  the  two  approach 
nearer  and  nearer.  Mother  has  a  stick  like  a  sword,  and 
finally  she  kills  leopard  with  a  light  blow.  This  coup  is 
received  by  a  shout  from  the  spectators  of  "o-lo-lo!" 

Then  another  pair  are  selected  to  go  through  the  parts  of 
mother  and  leopard  again.  Sometimes  one  will  refuse  to 
act,  or  to  be  mated  with  the  other  one.  Then,  like  a  singer 
in  civilized  lands,  she  is  met  with  entreaties  from  the  crowd, 

17 


258  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

"Do  act!  You  know  so  well  how  to  do  it!  "  And  then  she 
yields.  If  at  the  last  there  is  remaining  only  one  teacher  who 
has  not  done  the  act,  one  of  those  who  has  already  performed 
will  mate  with  her. 

At  night,  the  last  work  of  the  society  is  to  put  out 
their  fire.  If  the  leader  has  come  from  a  distant  village, 
she  wants  to  go,  and  she  will  extinguish  the  fire  that  night; 
or,  if  she  lives  near,  she  may  choose  to  wait  several  days 
longer.  But  during  that  time  the  dancing  and  singing  are 
not  kept  up,  for  the  society  has  adjourned. 

Whatever  else  is  unknown  of  the  objects  of  Njembe,  it  is 
known  that  it  is  a  government.  It  was  formerly  much  more 
powerful  than  it  is  now.  At  Libreville,  Gabun,  thirty  years 
ago,  no  woman  dared  to  speak  against  it.  Mission  school- 
girls, feeling  themselves  secure  on  the  mission  premises, 
sometimes  in  their  school-girl  talk  foolishly  made  disparag- 
ing remarks  about  it.  When  this  reached  the  ear  of  Njembe, 
those  girls  would  some  day  be  caught  when  they  were  visiting 
their  villages,  and  forced  through  the  rites.  Parents  did 
not  dare  interfere,  and  missionaries  had  no  authority  to 
do  so. 

In  one  case,  however,  a  missionary  did  make  a  successful 
interference.  The  girl  did  not  belong  to  Mpongwe  (the  tribe 
of  Gabun);  she  was  a  slave-waif  that  had  been  picked 
up  by  the  mission,  and  therefore,  in  a  sense,  the  mission', 
daughter.  The  senior  missionary,  Rev.  William  Walker,  was 
a  tall,  powerful,  utterly  fearless  man,  and  his  custom  was 
always  to  carry  a  heavy  cane.  That  day,  the  Njembe  lessons 
that  were  being  given  to  the  abducted  girl  had  only  begun  in 
the  village  street;  she  had  not  yet  been  taken  to  their  secret 
camp.  Mr.  Walker  strode  among  the  women  and  laid  hold 
of  the  unresisting  girl.  When  some  women  attempted  to 
drag  her  away,  he  brought  down  his  cane  heavily  at  random 
over  any  head  or  shoulder  within  reach  of  his  long  arm ;  and 
the  girl  was  glad  to  be  led  back  to  the  mission.  The  rescue 
was  successful.  Mr.  Walker's  use  of  force  was  justifiable 
as  against  N jSmbe's  forcible  abduction  of  the  girl ;  and  his 


ITS  PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  259 

parental  position  in  the  case  would  have  justified  him  if  the 
women  hud  made  any  complaint  against  him  before  the  local 
French  magistrate  on  charge  of  assault. 

In  a  somewhat  similar  case,  more  recently,  Njembe  sued  a 
missionary,  he  having  assaulted  them  when  they  refused  to 
remove  their  distressingly  noisy  camp  from  a  too  great  prox- 
imity to  the  mission  grounds.  The  magistrate  dismissed  the 
case,  resenting  Njembe's  existence  as  a  secret  society,  and  its 
assumption  of  exercise  of  governmental  authority. 

Recently  also  a  native  man  was  successful  in  thwarting 
Njgmbe.  A  certain  native  Christian  woman  had  escaped 
being  forced  into  Njembe  during  her  youth ;  and  by  her  being 
very  much  in  mission  employ  during  her  adult  years,  Njembe 
had  ceased  to  threaten  her.  Her  daughter,  of  about  eighteen 
years  of  age,  though  not  a  Christian,  had  also,  by  her  mother's 
care  of  her,  escaped,  though  often  threatened.  A  cousin  of 
this  daughter  had  been  put  through  the  rite  while  her  father 
was  away  on  a  journey.  And  now  this  cousin  was  trying  to 
induce  the  daughter  to  enter.  The  daughter  refused,  and 
perhaps  may  have  made  some  slighting  remark.  This  remark 
her  cousin  reported  to  Njgmbe;  and  some  intimations  were 
made  that  the  young  woman  would  be  seized.  The  father  of 
the  cousin  had  formerly  been  a  church-member,  is  educated 
and  gentlemanly.  Though  he  had  fallen  away  from  the 
church,  he  had  no  desire  to  see  his  niece  dragged  down.  He 
spoke  severely  to  his  daughter  about  the  excitement  she  was 
trying  to  raise,  and  threatened  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  French 
Chief  of  Police.  The  firm  stand  taken  by  him  and  also  by 
the  young  woman's  mother  was  efficient  in  preventing  her 
seizure  by  Njembe.  Both  these  parents  are  of  unusual 
strength  of  character  and  advance  in  civilization.  Without 
their  efficient  backing,  this  young  woman  would  have  been 
forced  into  Njembe. 

Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  1  wrote  of  Njgmbe  almost  fifty  years 
ago:  "There  is  no  spirit,  so  far  as  is  known,  connected 
with  this  association,  but  all   its  proceedings  are  kept  pro- 

^  Western  Africa,  p.  397. 


260  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

foundly  secret.  The  Nj6mb6  make  great  pretensions,  and  as 
a  body  are  really  feared  by  the  men.  They  pretend  to  detect 
thieves,  to  find  out  the  secrets  of  their  enemies;  and  in 
various  ways  they  are  useful  to  the  community  in  which 
they  live,  or,  at  least,  are  so  regarded  by  the  people.  The 
object  of  the  institution  originally,  no  doubt,  was  to  protect 
the  females  from  harsh  treatment  on  the  part  of  their  hus- 
bands; and  as  their  performances  are  always  veiled  in  mys- 
tery, and  they  have  acquired  the  reputation  of  performing 
wonders,  the  men  are,  no  doubt,  very  much  restrained  by  the 
fear  and  respect  which  they  have  for  them  as  a  body." 

Most  of  the  above  description  is,  after  so  many  years,  true 
now,  except  that  the  power  of  and  respect  for  the  society  is 
lessened  by  the  permeating  leaven  of  a  Christian  mission  and 
by  the  dominance  of  a  foreign  government;  but  even  in  that 
same  region,  in  portions  where  these  two  forces  are  not  in  im- 
mediate contact  with  the  community,  Njembg  still  is  feared. 

It  is  true,  also,  that  there  is  no  special  spirit  belonging  to 
Njgmbe,  but  when  the  society  has  occasion  to  investigate  a 
theft  or  other  crime,  it  invokes  the  usual  ilaga  and  other 
spirits. 

It  is  also  still  true  that  in  the  tribes  where  Njgmbe  exists 
women  have  much  more  freedom  from  control  by  men  than 
in  tribes  where  it  does  not  exist.  But  even  if  it  has  been 
thus  a  defence  to  women  against  man's  severity,  it  undeniably 
has  been  an  injury  to  them  by  its  indecent  ceremonies  and 
phallic  songs.  Such  things  may  make  men  fear  them,  but 
also  make  it  impossible  for  men  to  respect  them. 

Those  songs  I  myself  have  heard  when  the  Njgmbe  camp 
was  in  a  jungle  near  to  a  village.  The  male  generative  organ 
was  personified,  and,  in  the  song  addressed  to  it,  the  name  of 
a  certain  man,  who  was  known  by  the  singers  to  be  at  that 
very  time  in  the  adjacent  village,  was  tauntingly  referred  to. 
Even  immoral  men  were  overwhelmed  with  shame  at  the 
shamelessness  of  the  women.  And  yet  those  same  women, 
when  their  NjgmbS  adjourned,  resumed  in  their  individual 
capacities  their  usual  apparent  modesty  which,  as  a  collec- 


ITS  PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  201 

tive  body,  they  had  cast  aside.  Little  has  been  printed  of 
NjembS's  secret  proceedings  more  than  Dr.  Wilson  wrote  fifty 
years  ago. 

Paul  Du  Chaillu  makes  a  short  statement  that  he  was  al- 
lowed to  witness  a  part;  and  he  describes  a  hut  containing  a 
few  almost  nude  old  women  sitting  around  some  skulls  and 
other  fetiches.  Doubtless  he  saw  what  he  asserts.  But, 
unusual  as  were  his  opportunities,  and  large  as  was  his  per- 
sonal influence  with  his  "  Camma ""  (Nkarai)  native  chiefs,  it 
is  positive  that  what  was  shown  him  was  only  a  little  of 
Njembe,  if  indeed  it  was  NjgmbS  at  all. 

Other  white  men,  with,  indeed,  perhaps  less  tact  than  he, 
but  of  greater  money  power  and  larger  trade  opportunities, 
failed  to  see  anything. 

Some  twenty-five  years  ago  two  Germans  (now  dead)  trad- 
ing in  the  Gabun  determined  secretly  to  spy  out  Njembe. 

The  merchant,  the  head  of  the  trading-house,  was  a  well- 
educated  gentleman,  and  his  clerk  was  an  active,  intelligent 
young  man.  Both  knew  native  customs  well,  and  both  spoke 
the  Mpongwe  language  fluently.  Each  had  a  native  wife, 
and  being  generous  and  liberal-handed,  had  many  native 
friends;  but  they  had  been  unable  to  bribe  any  Njgmbg 
women,   even  their  own  wives,   to  reveal  anything. 

One  dark  night  when  the  society  was  in  session  in  a  small 
jungle  not  far  from  their  trading-house,  they  went  secretly 
and  cautiously  through  the  bushes.  They  had  not  approached 
near  enough  to  the  circle  of  women  around  the  camp-fire  to 
actually  recognize  any  of  them  (it  would  have  been  difficult 
to  recognize  their  painted  faces  even  by  daylight) ;  and  they 
really  did  not  see  anything  of  what  was  being  done.  Some- 
how their  approach  was  discovered,  either  by  information 
treacherously  carried  from  some  one  in  their  retinue  of  house- 
hold servants,  or  by  being  seen  by  one  of  the  pickets  of  the 
camp,  or  by  the  breaking  of  a  branch  as  they  crept  through 
the  trees,  or,  possibly,  by  their  white  odor  carried  on  the 
wind,  —  odor  which  to  Africans  is  almost  as  distinct  as  is 
Negro  odor  to  the  white  race. 


262  FETICHISM  IN  WEST  AFRICA 

NjembS  raised  a  frenzied  cry,  and  started  to  seize  them. 
The  two  men  fled  desperately  through  the  thick  bushes. 
The  clerk  was  recognized,  and  his  name  was  called  out,  and 
the  other  was  assumed  to  be  his  employer.  They  escaped  to 
the  safety  of  their  house.  Njembe  did  not  dare  assault  it, 
French  policemen  being  within  call;  but  next  day  word  was 
sent  by  the  society  denouncing  them  both,  laying  a  curse  on 
them,  and  plainly  saying  that  they  should  die.  If  the  threat 
had  been  that  the  means  of  death  would  be  magic,  these  gen- 
tlemen would  have  laughed;  but  the  women  did  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  they  would  poison  them  in  their  food.  This  would 
be  entirely  possible,  even  without  collusion  among  the  several 
men  and  boys  that  ranged  from  steward  to  cook  and  waiters 
as  their  household  servants ;  though,  if  need  were,  some  of 
these  servants  would  sooner  be  treasonable  to  the  white  master 
than  dare  to  refuse  Njembe.  The  case  was  serious.  The 
older  man,  as  a  dispenser  of  wealth  to  the  entire  community, 
was,  even  in  Njembe's  eye,  too  valuable  to  be  killed;  his 
wife,  herself  a  Njembe  woman,  interceded  for  him,  and  the 
curse  was  removed  from  him  on  the  payment  of  a  large  fine. 
But  the  curse  was  doubled  over  the  poor  clerk.  NjembS 
would  listen  to  no  appeal,  nor  accept  any  bribe  for  him,  as 
they  had  actually  seen  him  at  their  camp. 

It  is  a  fact  that  shortly  after  this  this  clerk  did  fall  into  a 
decline,  with  strange  symptoms  which  no  doctor  understood 
nor  any  medicines  seemed  to  touch.  He  became  weaker  and 
weaker,  and  his  life  was  desj^aired  of.  Njembe  openly  boasted 
that  it  was  killing  him. 

I  do  not  know  why  an  appeal  was  not  made  to  the  local 
French  authorities.  Perhaps  because  the  merchant  did  not 
wish  to  give  more  publicity  to  his  escapade ;  perhaps  because 
it  would  be  difficult  to  prosecute  a  society,  no  individual 
Njembe  woman  appearing  to  be  responsible. 

To  save  his  clerk,  the  merchant  offered  to  pay  a  very  large 
sum.  Njembe  having  had  a  partial  revenge,  having  demon- 
strated its  power,  and  standing  victorious  before  the  com- 
munity, was  induced  to  accept.     It  was  never  known  publicly 


ITS  PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  263 

how  much  was  paid.  The  curse  was  withdrawn,  and  the 
clerk  immediately  began  to  recover;  but  it  was  some  months 
before  the  evil  was  entirely  eradicated  from  his  system. 

Beyond  Dr.  Wilson's  and  Dii  Chaillu's  short  statements 
about  Njembe,  I  have  seen  nothing  else  in  print,  except  the 
mere  mention  of  the  existence  of  the  society  by  several  Afri- 
can travellers.  What  I  have  written  in  the  above  I  have 
obtained  piecemeal  at  various  times  from  different  men  and 
women,  Christian  and  heathen;  but  all  of  them  spoke  with 
hesitation,  and  under  promise  that  I  should  mention  no 
names. 

Poisoning  for  Revenge. 

There  are  native  poisons.  It  is  known  that  sometimes  they 
are  secretly  used  in  revenge,  or  to  put  out  of  the  way  a  rela- 
tive whose  wealth  is  desired  to  be  inherited.  This  much  I 
have  to  admit,  as  to  charges  of  "  bewitching  "  and  so-called 
"judicial  executions,"  therefore,  that  in  the  case  of  some 
deaths  they  are  actual  murders,  and  that  the  perpetrator  de- 
serves to  be  executed.  But  it  is  rare  that  the  proof  of  guilt 
is  clear.  I  have  to  be  guarded  in  my  admission  of  an  ac- 
cused person's  guilt,  lest  I  give  countenance  to  the  univer- 
sal belief  in  death  as  the  result  of  fetich  agencies.  I  explain 
to  my  native  questioner:  If  what  the  accused  has  done  in 
fetich  rite  with  intent  to  kill  had  any  efficiency  for  taking 
away  life,  I  allow  that  he  shall  be  put  to  death ;  if  he  made 
only  fetiches,  even  if  they  were  intended  to  kill,  he  is  not 
guilty  of  this  death,  for  a  mere  fetich  cannot  kill.  But  if  he 
used  poison,  with  or  without  fetich,  then  he  is  guilty. 

But  even  so,  the  distinction  between  a  fetich  and  a  poison 
is  vague  in  the  thought  of  many  natives.  What  I  call  a 
"  poison  "  is  to  them  only  another  material  form  of  a  fetich 
power,  both  poison  and  fetich  being  supposed  to  be  made 
efficient  by  the  presence  of  an  adjuvant  spirit. 

Not  all  the  deaths  of  foreigners  in  Africa  are  due  to 
malaria.  Some  of  them  have  been  doubtless  due  to  poison, 
administered  by  a  revengeful  employee.     Very  many  white 


264  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

residents  in  Africa  treat  their  servants  in  oppressive  and 
cruel  ways.  Even  those  who  are  not  cruel  are  often  auto- 
cratic and  arbitrary.  In  a  country  that  has  little  law  to 
hinder,  and  no  public  opinion  to  shame  them,  some  white 
men  treat  the  natives  almost  as  slaves,  cheating  them  of 
their  wages,  cursing,  kicking,  striking,  beating,  and  other- 
wise maltreating  and  even  mutilating  them.  Some  are  kind 
and  just;  but  even  they  are  at  times  severe  in  enforcing 
their  authority.  So  it  could  occur  that  even  a  kindly-dis- 
posed foreigner  might  have  his  life  attempted  by  an  evil- 
disposed  employee  whose  anger  he  had  aroused. 

In  general,  the  Bantu  natives  of  Africa  are  patient,  long- 
suffering,  and  not  easily  aroused  to  violence,  but  taking  their 
revenge,  if  finally  their  endurance  is  exhausted,  by  robbing 
their  master  of  his  goods  or  otherwise  wasting  his  trade; 
abandoning  him  in  sickness,  so  that  he  dies  really  of  neglect, 
or,  when  his  boat  upsets  in  the  surf  of  the  sea,  making  no 
effort  to  rescue  him. 

The  Bantu  tribes  are  less  revengeful  and  more  amiable 
than  the  Negroes  of  Upper  Guinea,  or  the  tribes  of  Senegal 
and  of  the  Sudan,  with  their  mixture  of  Arab  blood  and 
Mahometan  beliefs. 

An  English  traveller  recently,  in  the  Igbo  country  of 
Nigeria,  in  discussing  the  native  belief  in  occidt  forces,  says: 
"  It  is  impossible  for  a  white  man  to  be  present  at  their  gath- 
erings of  'medicine  men,'  and  it  is  hard  to  get  a  native  to 
talk  of  such  things ;  but  it  seems  evident  to  me  that  there  is 
some  reality  in  the  phenomena  one  hears  of,  as  they  are  be- 
lieved everywhere  in  some  degree  by  white  men  as  well  as 
black.  However  that  may  be,  the  native  doctors  have  a  wide 
knowledge  of  poisons ;  and  if  one  is  to  believe  reports,  deaths 
from  poison,  both  among  white  and  black  men,  are  of  com- 
mon occurrence  on  the  Niger.  One  of  the  white  man's  often 
quoted  proverbs  is,  'Never  quarrel  with  your  cook  ' ;  the 
meaning  of  which  is  that  the  cook  can  put  something  in  your 
food  in  retaliation  if  you  maltreat  him. 

"There  is  everywhere  a  belief  that   it  is  possible  to  put 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  265 

medicine  on  a  path  for  your  enemy  which,  when  he  steps 
over  it,  will  cause  him  to  fall  sick  and  die.  Other  people 
can  walk  uninjured  over  the  spot,  but  the  moment  the  man 
for  whom  the  medicine  is  laid  reaches  the  place,  he  succumbs, 
often  dying  within  an  hour  or  two.  I  have  never  seen  such 
a  case  myself;  but  the  Rev.  A.  E.  Richardson  says  he  saw 
one  when  on  the  journey  with  Bishop  Tugwell's  house-party. 
He  could  offer  no  explanation  of  how  the  thing  is  done,  but 
does  not  doubt  that  it  is  done.  Some  of  the  best  educated 
of  our  native  Christians  have  told  me  that  they  firmly  believe 
in  this  'medicine-laying.'  " 

The  most  distinct  instance  of  attempt  at  poisoning  which 
I  have  met  was  related  to  me  in  March,  1902,  by  Mr.  H.  L. 
Stacey,  of  the  English  trading-house  of  J.  Holt  &  Co.  Ltd. 
I  took  the  following  statement  from  his  own  lips,  and  he  gave 
me  liberty  to  use  it  publicly.  He  has  since  died,  and  his 
death  was  sudden. 

Mr.  Stacey  was  a  gentleman  of  courteous  manner  and  of 
good  education ;  fearless,  universall}^  kind,  and  generally  just 
in  his  treatment  of  the  natives.  He  was  a  Christian  in  his 
belief,  and  endeavored  to  be  one  in  his  life.  His  truthful- 
ness is  beyond  doubt,  thus  making  his  statement  entirely 
reliable. 

He  had  his  headquarters  at  Bata,  with  native  sub-traders 
scattered  north  and  south  and  up  the  Benita  River,  some 
twenty-three  miles  south  of  Bata.  There  came  to  him  for 
employment  a  Lagos  man,  by  name  Croly  or  Crowley.  He 
spoke  English  well,  could  read  and  write,  had  quite  a  display 
of  manner,  and  made  himself  very  useful  by  his  apparent  de- 
votion, faithfulness,  and  honesty.  All  this  deceived  Mr. 
Stacey,  who  thought  he  had  obtained  a  valuable  servant;  and 
rewarded  him  by  giving  him  a  sub-factory  at  Lobisa,  a 
few  miles  up  the  Benita  River.  To  have  a  factory  of  one's 
own  is  the  goal  of  the  ambition  of  every  white  trader's 
employees. 

Mr.  Stacey  had  also  a  Benga  sub-trader  on  the  river  at 
SSnje,  some  ten  miles  above  Lobisa.     This  Benga  went  to 


266  FETICHISM  IN  WEST  AFRICA 

Bata  and  reported  to  Mr.  Stacey  that  Crowley  was  wasting 
his  goods  in  riotous  living  and  extravagant  giving.  While 
the  Benga  was  away,  Crowley  falsely  told  the  native  Fang, 
who  had  been  paid  in  advance  by  the  former  to  collect  india- 
rubber  for  him,  that  the  Benga  had  been  dismissed,  was  in 
jail,  and  would  never  come  back,  and  induced  them  to  sell  to 
himself  the  rubber  they  had  collected  for  the  Benga.  When 
the  Benga  returned  to  his  post,  and  asked  his  Fang  to  pay 
their  debt,  they  told  him  of  the  deception  Crowley  had  prac- 
tised on  them.  There  was,  therefore,  a  triangular  quarrel, 
the  Benga  suing  the  Fang  for  their  debt  to  him,  the  Fang 
denouncing  Crowley  for  his  cheat,  and  Crowley  angry  at 
the  Benga  for  informing  Mr.   S.  on  him. 

Just  at  this  stage  of  affairs  Mr.  S.  came  on  one  of  his 
usual  visits  of  inspection  to  Senje.  The  Fang  immediately 
sent  secretly  a  deceptive  message  down  to  Crowley,  saying 
that  Mr.  S.  wished  to  see  him.  As  soon  as  he  came,  the 
Fang  began  to  fight  him.  Notwithstanding  Crowley's  dis- 
honesty to  him,  Mr.  S.  magnanimously  defended  his  life, 
locked  him  for  safety  in  the  Benga's  bedroom,  and  then  made 
the  quarrel  a  quadrilateral  by  protesting  to  the  Fang  against 
their  assaulting  his  premises.  His  contention  with  them  was 
"talked"  in  public  " palaver, "  and  finally  was  amicably  set- 
tled. During  the  "  talk  "  a  lad  came  to  Mr.  S.  excitedly, 
saying  that  Crowley  was  spreading  "medicine"  in  the  bed  of 
the  Benga,  with  intent  to  kill  the  latter.  This  aroused  again 
the  indignation  of  the  Fang.  But  Mr.  S.  laughed  down  their 
anxiety,  telling  them  that  he  was  not  afraid  of  "medicine  " 
(he  thought  it  was  only  fetich);  that  fetich  could  not  kill  a 
white  man;  and  that,  to  prove  it,  he  would  that  night 
sleep  in  that  bed,  and  the  Benga  should  sleep  elsewhere. 
When  all  was  settled,  he  got  Crowley  quietly  away,  and  sent 
him  down  river  to  his  Lobisa  house,  with  expectation  of  dis- 
missal. At  night  Mr.  S.  awoke  with  a  great  pain  in  his  ab- 
domen, a  great  sense  of  constriction  in  his  chest,  skin  hot, 
and  body  tortured  with  shooting  pains.  Only  his  head  was 
clear  and  free  from  any  distress.     The  symptoms  were  not 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  267 

those  of  malarial  fever.  The  next  day  his  limbs  were  para- 
lyzed. The  natives  said  that  Crowley  had  scattered  in  the 
bedding  and  through  the  mosquito  net  a  poisonous  powder. 

Mr.  S.  was  taken  helpless  in  his  canoe  down  river,  on  the 
way  passing  very  near  Lobisa,  to  a  house  on  the  sea-beach 
near  the  river's  mouth.  Believing  that  Crowley  had  at- 
tempted the  life  of  the  Benga,  Mr.  S.,  while  lying  sick,  sent 
word  to  the  adjacent  Spanish  Government  Post  for  two 
soldiers  to  come  and  arrest  Crowley.  (Mr.  S.  had  been  in- 
formed that  C.  was  on  his  way  to  him.)  For  C,  when  he 
saw  Mr.  S.  lying  sick  in  his  passing  canoe,  surmised  what 
had  happened,  and  was  afraid  the  Fang  would  follow  him  to 
Lobisa  and  assault  him  there.  So  he  had  closed  his  house 
and  fled,  following  Mr.  S.  He  was  coming  with  a  double 
purpose:  first,  to  plead  with  Mr.  S.  against  dismissal; 
second,  as  he  promptly  had  heard  of  Mr.  Stacey's  sleeping 
in  the  poisoned  bed  and  being  sick,  he  feared  arrest  and  was 
ready  also  to  make  the  murder  plan  complete,  if  his  plea  for 
mercy  was  denied.  To  this  end  he  came  prepared  with  a 
handful  of  the  powder. 

Before  he  had  reached  the  house  where  Mr.  S.  was,  the 
two  soldiers  had  met  and  arrested  him,  and  were  taking  him 
to  jail.  He  asked  permission  first  to  be  allowed  to  see  his 
"master."  So  they  brought  him  to  the  sick-room,  where  he 
made  many  protestations  of  friendship  and  devotion,  and 
plead  for  mercy.  Mr.  S.  rebuked  the  soldiers  for  hesitating 
in  their  duty,  and  for  having  brought  their  prisoner  there, 
and  bade  them  take  him  away  to  the  magistrate;  then  he 
fell  back  on  his  pillow  exhausted,  and  lay  with  closed  eyes, 
only  semi-conscious.  The  soldiers  went  out  of  the  room, 
leaving  C.  clinging  to  the  bed.  He  fell  on  his  knees  by  Mr. 
S.'s  head,  as  if  still  to  beg  for  pardon.  Mr.  S.  felt  C.'s 
hand  insinuated  under  the  bed  cover  near  his  pillow,  and 
suddenly  opened  his  eyes,  to  find  C.'s  closed  hand  near 
his  face.  He  struck  away  the  hand.  A  quantity  of  dark 
powder  fell  on  the  pillow  near  his  nose.  Half  suffocated,  by 
an  effort  he  shouted  to  the  soldiers,  who  came  and  took  C. 


268  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

away.  Mr.  Stacey's  little  waiter-boy,  who  had  also  come  in 
at  the  shout,  was  horrified  to  see  the  poison -powder  on  the 
pillow.  He  snatched  away  the  pillow,  threw  the  powder  out 
of  doors,  and  told  the  soldiers.  They,  without  waiting  for 
official  judgment  at  the  Post,  gave  C.  twenty-five  lashes  at 
once.  Farther  blows,  twenty-five  at  a  time,  were  given  him 
while  waiting  in  jail  for  Mr.  S.  to  get  well  enough  to  appear 
against  him.  Subsequently  the  Chef  de  Paste  appointed  a  day 
for  the  hearing;  but  Mr.  S.,  in  his  devotion  to  the  trade  in- 
terests of  his  employers,  asked  that  the  day  be  postponed,  as 
his  sub-traders  needed  just  then  much  supervision.  So  the 
Chef  dismissed  the  matter,  seeming  to  think  that  if  Mr.  S. 
regarded  his  trade  as  of  more  importance  than  the  defence  of 
his  life,  it  was  no  business  of  the  government  to  hold  the 
prisoner;   and  took  no  farther  interest  in  it. 

Having  been  given,  in  instalments,  an  aggregate  of  two 
hundred  lashes,  C.  was  discharged.  He  wandered  about  that 
region  gathering  a  little  food,  without  friends,  feared  and 
hated,  and  not  allowed  by  some  even  to  enter  their  villages. 

The  reputation  of  the  Lagos  powder  as  a  powerful  agent 
in  destroying  life  has  been  known  for  years  among  the  equa- 
torial coast  tribes.  Reports  of  it  are  well  known  among 
white  men  on  the  steamers.  It  is  believed  in,  not  as  a  super- 
stition, nor  as  a  fetich,  but  as  a  powerful  poison.  Clerks  and 
other  workmen  from  Lagos  are  not  welcomed  in  the  Gabun 
region,  as  are  clerks  from  other  parts  of  Upper  Guinea,  for 
fear  of  their  carrying  that  poison  with  them. 

Distrust. 

As  a  result  of  the  universal  employment  of  fetiches  in 
African  tribes,  there  is  no  confidence  between  man  and  man. 
Every  one  is  in  distrust  of  his  neighbor;  every  man's  hand 
against  his  fellow. 

"  The  natives  of  Africa,  though  so  thoroughly  devoted  to 
the  use  of  fetiches,  acquire  no  feeling  of  security  in  conse- 
quence of  using  them.  Perhaps  their  only  real  influence  is 
to  make  them  more  insecure  than  they  would  have  been  with- 


ITS   PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  269 

out  them.  There  is  no  phxce  in  the  world  where  men  feel 
more  insecurity.  A  man  must  be  careful  whose  company  he 
keeps,  what  path  he  walks,  whose  house  he  enters,  on  what 
stool  he  seats  himself,  where  he  sleeps.  He  knows  not  what 
moment  he  may  place  his  foot  or  lay  his  hand  upon  some  in- 
visible engine  of  mischief,  or  by  what  means  the  seeds  of 
death  may  be  implanted  in  his  constitution."^ 

Because  of  this  lack  of  confidence,  the  natural  affections 
and  the  duties  of  the  dearest  relations  are  perverted.  Wives 
afraid  of  husbands,  and  husbands  afraid  of  wives ;  children 
afraid  of  parents,  and  parents  afraid  of  children  ;  the  chief  of 
the  village  uncertain  of  his  people  ;  and  the  entire  community 
that  must  live  and  eat  and  associate  together,  living  and  eating 
and  associating  with  a  constant  secretly  entertained  suspicion 
of  each  other. 

Jugglery. 

While  in  some  of  the  rites  performed  by  the  native  doctor- 
priest  there  is  real  diabolism,  i.  e.,  communication  with  Satan, 
and  certain  wonders  are  performed  through  the  Prince  of  the 
Power  of  Darkness,  I  am  disposed  to  believe  that  in  most 
cases  the  "  doctor  "  is  self-deceived,  certainly  in  many  cases 
I  believe  him  to  be  a  deliberate  deceiver.  The  native  so- 
called  "  prophet  "  is  probably  an  artful  mind-reader  ;  and  the 
fortune-teller,  like  our  own  fortune-tellers,  a  skilful  observer 
of  the  subject's  tones,  manner,  and  unguarded  admissions  in 
conversation  which  give  ground  for  shrewd  guessing. 

Arnot'-^  says:  "These  professional  diviners  are  no  doubt 
smart  fellows,  arch-rogues  though  they  be.  The  secret  of 
their  art  lies  in  their  constant  repetition  of  every  possibility 
in  connection  with  the  disaster  they  are  called  upon  to  explain 
until  they  finally  hit  upon  that  which  is  in  the  minds  of  their 
clients.  As  the  people  sit  around  and  repeat  the  words  of  the 
diviner,  it  is  easy  for  him  to  detect  in  their  tone  of  voice  or  to 
read  in  their  faces  the  suspected  source  of  the  calamity. 

"  A  man  had  a  favorite  dog  which  was  attacked  by  a  leopard, 

^  Wilson,  Western  Africa.  2  Qarenganze,  p.  107. 


270  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

but  succeeded  in  escaping  with  one  of  its  eyes  torn  out  To 
ascertain  the  reason  of  this  calamity,  the  owner  sent  to  call 
one  of  these  diviners.  When  he  arrived,  to  test  him,  he  was 
told  that  a  disaster  had  befallen  my  acquaintance,  and  was 
asked  to  find  out  by  divination  what  it  was.  The  diviner 
with  his  rattles  and  other  paraphernalia,  and  dances,  and 
other  movements  to  occupy  attention,  after  the  manner  of 
jugglers,  asked  leading  questions  of  the  spirit  he  was  profess- 
ing to  consult,  but  really  he  was  watcliing  the  faces  of  his  au- 
dience for  their  unconsciously  given  assent  or  dissent.  Thus, 
in  succession,  he  found  that  the  misfortune,  whatever  it  was, 
was  not  to  a  human  being ;  then  not  to  certain  families  ;  then 
to  some  object  possessed  by  a  certain  man  ;  then  that  it  was 
not  about  an  ox  nor  about  a  goat ;  then  that  it  was  about  a 
dog ;  then,  after  certain  other  possibilities,  was  it  connected 
with  a  leopard  ?  So  excited  were  the  audience  that  they  for- 
got that  they  had  been  '  giving  themselves  away,'  and  when 
the  diviner  asked  the  spirit, '  Was  it  a  leopard  ? '  they  shouted 
with  admiration  at  his  supposed  skill.  After  a  whole  day  of 
such  proceedings  the  diviner  triumphed  by  announcing  "  that 
the  spirit  of  the  father  of  one  of  the  man's  wives  had  been 
grieved  at  the  man's  long  absence  from  his  town  and  family, 
and  had  employed  the  leopard  to  tear  the  dog's  eye  as  a  gentle 
reminder  that  it  was  time  he  should  go  back  to  his  own 
village." 

In  connection  with  the  Yoruba  custom  of  parents  of  twins 
having  images  carved  of  their  dead  twins,  "  the  carving  of 
those  images  is  a  flourishing  and  money-making  trade.  If  the 
parents  of  the  dead  child  are  in  comfortable  circumstances, 
the  carvers  tell  them  that  they  have  seen  in  their  dreams 
the  dead  tmn,  and  that  he  or  she  has  asked  them  to  send 
such  and  such  clothes,  articles  of  food,  money,  etc. 

"  Sometimes  they  say  the  twins  appeared  to  them  in  the 
forest  when  they  went  to  cut  the  Ire-wood  to  be  carved,  and 
bade  them  not  to  venture  it.  In  such  cases  special  sacrifices 
must  be  offered  before  taking  any  steps.  In  this  way  months 
pass  before  the  carving  is  complete ;  during  which  time  the 


ITS   PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  271 

carvers  demand  of  the  jjarents  whatever  they  feel  they  are 
capable  of  supplying  them  with."  ^ 

In  the  Corisco  region,  some  thirty  years  ago,  I  knew  a 
native  sorcerer  who  achieved  quite  a  reputation  because  he 
could  perform  the  thimble-rig  juggler-trick  of  making  a  leaf 
appear  and  disappear  between  two  plates. 

One  of  my  associates  in  the  Ogowe,  the  late  H.  M.  Bachelor, 
M.D.,  had  brought  with  him  from  the  United  States  a  few 
tricks  of  "  parlor  magic."  He  quite  astonished  my  school- 
children by  swallowing  and  subsequently  vomiting  up  a  pen- 
knife, and  by  passing  a  threaded  needle  through  the  thigh  of 
one  of  the  boys.  Dr.  B.  did  the  tricks  so  artistically  that 
even  I  did  not  detect  the  deception  about  the  penknife ;  and 
the  boy  solemnl}^  asserted  that  he  felt  the  needle  travelling 
through  his  leg.  The  exhibition  was  a  happy  one  in  reveal- 
ing to  the  natives  how  an  evil-disposed  sorcerer  would  be 
able  to  deceive  them. 

A  lady  of  the  West  African  Mission  of  the  American  Board 
says :  "  I  once  witnessed  the  performance  of  a  witch-doctor 
on  one  of  my  visits  among  the  villages.  The  chief  of  the 
country  was  sick,  and  the  doctor  was  giving  him  a  massage 
treatment.  By  sleight  of  hand  he  seemed  to  draw  from  the 
patient's  side  chicken's  claws,  feathers,  bones,  sticks,  pebbles, 
etc.  Some  "  witch,"  it  was  supposed,  had  caused  these  things 
to  grow  in  the  man's  body  with  intent  to  kill.  It  was  evident 
to  the  astonished  crowd  which  had  gathered  around,  that  their 
king  would  probably  get  well,  now  these  things  were  removed. 
The  doctor's  bill  was  promptly  paid, — a  thousand  balls  of 
rubber,  ten  pieces  of  cloth,  and  a  large  pig.  An  ox  was 
slaughtered,  and  a  beer  drink  indulged  in  to  celebrate  the 
occasion  and  to  appease  any  offended  spirit." 

Treatment  of  Lunatics. 

The  insane  being  supposed  to  be  physically  and  mentally 
possessed  by  an  intruding  spirit,  their  actions  are  necessarily 

1  Niger  and  Yoruba  Notes. 


272  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

not  considered  to  be  the  outcome  of  their  own  volitions.  This 
view  does  not  always,  in  the  native  mind,  relieve  a  lunatic  of 
the  burden  of  the  consequences  of  his  acts. 

There  is  great  diversity,  therefore,  in  the  treatment  of  the 
insane  in  different  districts  and  in  different  tribes.  In  some 
regions  a  tribe  holds  to  the  following  reasoning  :  This  person 
is  possessed  by  a  spirit.  That  spirit  is  occupying  his  body 
and  using  his  voice  and  limbs  for  some  reason.  If  we  inter- 
fere with  this  person's  doings,  then  we  will  be  interfering 
with  the  spirit  and  may  bring  evil  on  ourselves.  Therefore 
it  is  considered  proper  to  make  offerings  and  some  degree  of 
worship  to  the  incarnated  spirit.  But  it  is  not  true  that  the 
lunatic  liimself  is  an  object  of  worship.  The  gifts  and  sacri- 
fices are  made  solely  to  and  for  the  spirit ;  the  prayer  of  the 
petitioners  being  that  it  may  refi-ain  from  inciting  the  pos- 
sessed person  to  do  them  evil,  and  in  the  hope  that  it  may 
conclude  to  depart  and  leave  the  patient  and  them  alone. 

In  other  places  this  same  belief  of  possession  leads  to  a 
very  different  logical  conclusion.  The  thought  is :  This  per- 
son is  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit ;  if  we  allow  him  to  remain, 
that  evil  spirit  will  do  us  only  evil ;  let  us  put  this  man,  who 
is  thus  being  utilized  for  evil,  out  of  the  way,  and  perhaps 
in  so  doing  we  may  get  rid  of  the  possessing  spirit  also.  So 
the  lunatic  is  put  to  death.  The  manner  of  death  sometimes 
chosen  is  a  cruel  one,  as  if  thereby  the  spirit  itself  might  also 
be  injured  or  incapacitated  to  do  further  evil.  Observe  that 
this  cruelty  is  not  directed  against  the  demented  human 
being,  but  against  the  indwelling  spirit.  The  maniac  in 
being  put  to  death  is  sometimes  beaten  wdth  clubs,  sometimes 
burned,  sometimes  drowned,  as  if  the  evil  possessing  spirit 
might  itself  be  fractured  or  charred  or  sunk. 

The  forms  of  lunacy  I  have  seen  are  mild,  rarely  maniacal. 
The  lunatics  I  have  met  in  the  Gabun  resrion  were  both 
men  and  women.  Among  women  I  have  thought  a  cause  was 
uterine  complications  ;  among  both  men  and  women,  excessive 
use  of  tobacco ;  in  two  cases  of  men  the  cause  was  hashish- 
smoking.     These  last  were  characterized  bv  a  deep  melan- 


ITS  PRACTICAL   EFFECTS  273 

choly ;  all  the  others  were  iiuirked  by  absurd  hallucinations. 
Undeniably,  in  two  cases  in  Gabun,  the  paroxysms  were 
influenced  by  the  stage  of  the  moon. 

The  only  medication  of  which  the  natives  know  is  exor- 
cism by  fetich  with  drum  and  dance,  baths  and  purgatives. 
When  a  j^erson  is  discovered  to  be  crazy,  he  is  taken  to  the 
doctor,  who  gathers  medicinal  barks  and  leaves,  makes  a  very 
hot  decoction,  and  puts  it  under  a  seat  on  which  is  placed 
the  patient.  Both  seat  and  patient  are  covered  by  a  cloth, 
and  he  is  subjected  to  a  severe  sweating  process.  During 
this  time  the  doctor  calls  out  to  the  supposed  possessing 
spirit,  "Who  are  you?  who  are  you?"  Perhaps  the  sick 
man  will  say  (his  voice  supposed  to  be  under  control  of 
nkinda),  "I  am  So-and-so."  The  doctor  replies,  "Eh!  you 
So-and-so !  leave  him,  or  I  will  catch  you  and  put  you  in 
prison."  The  prison  is  a  section  of  sugar-cane  stalk  with 
its  leaves  twined  together;  and  the  doctor  is  believed  to 
be  able  to  confine  the  nkinda  there.  And  it  remains  there 
indefinitely;  but  it  may  be  released  by  the  will  of  the 
doctor,  who  will  choose  to  free  it  some  day  unless  he  is 
paid  not  to  do  so.  Sometimes  the  crazy  person  has  so  many 
sinkinda  that  he  becomes  a  maniac,  losing  all  sense  of  shame 
or  even  of  hunger.  In  such  a  case  he  is  tied  till  he  be- 
comes quiet  and  the  doctor  announces  that  the  sinkinda 
have  all  gone  out.  The  patient  is  then  washed,  and  the 
doctor  with  song  and  drum  calls  on  good  sinkinda  to  come 
and  enter,  and  directs  them  to  take  care  of  the  man's 
body. 

The  American  Negro  Voodoo. 

When  the  Negro  was  brought  to  America  as  a  slave,  he 
brought  with  him  a  variety  of  African  things,  some  good, 
some  bad. 

When  hurried  upon  the  slave-ships  in  the  Kongo  or  at 
Lagos,  the  slave  tied  into  a  little  package,  hung  among  his 
other  fetich  treasures,  seeds  of  his  favorite  foods.  At  least 
one  of  these  seeds  survived,  in  the  West  Indies  and  thence  to 

18 


274  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

the  United  States,  with  a  native  name  "gumbo."  It  is  the 
okra  (Abehnoschus  esculentus),  that  exists  all  over  Africa, 
and  has  spread  over  the  United  States. 

Ground-nuts  —  "  pea-nuts  "  (Arachis  hypogea),  which  bota- 
nists claim  to  be  a  native  of  South  America  —  have  been 
grown  from  time  immemorial  all  over  Africa,  and,  in  the 
Loango  country  bordering  on  the  Kongo  River,  by  the 
Ashira  and  some  other  tribes  are  used  as  their  staple  article 
of  food,  rather  than  the  plantain  (Musa  sapientum),  or 
"  manioc,"  cassava  (Jatropha  manihot).  It  is  an  important 
export  from  those  regions  and  from  the  Gambia  to-day.  If 
the  nut  itself  was  not  carried  from  Africa  to  America,  its 
native  name  was ;  that  name  is  "  mbenda,"  and  it  was  cor- 
rupted to  "pindar"  in  parts  of  the  Southern  States. 

The  evil  thing  that  the  slave  brought  with  him  was  his 
religion.  You  do  not  need  to  go  to  Africa  to  find  the 
fetich.  During  the  hundred  years  that  slavery  in  our 
America  held  the  Negro  crushed,  degraded,  and  apart,  his 
master  could  deprive  him  of  his  manhood,  his  wife,  his 
child,  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  of  his  life;  but  there  was  one 
thing  of  which  he  could  not  deprive  him,  —  his  faith  in 
fetich  charms.  Not  only  did  this  religion  of  the  fetich  endure 
under  slavery ;  it  grew.  None  but  Christian  masters  offered 
the  Negro  any  other  religion ;  and,  by  law,  even  they  were 
debarred  from  giving  him  any  education.  So  fetichism 
flourished.  The  master's  children  were  infected  by  the  con- 
tagion of  superstition  ;  they  imbibed  some  of  it  at  their  Negro 
foster-mother's  breast.  It  was  a  secret  religion  that  lurked 
thinly  covered  in  slavery  days,  and  that  lurks  to-day.  be- 
neath the  Negro's  Christian  profession  as  a  white  art,  and 
among  non-professors  as  a  black  art;  a  memory  of  the  re- 
venges of  his  African  ancestors;  a  secret  fraternity  among 
slaves  of  far-distant  plantations,  with  words  and  signs,  —  the 
lifting  of  a  finger,  the  twitch  of  an  eyelid,  —  that  telegraphed 
from  house  to  house  with  amazing  rapidity  (as  to-day  in 
Africa)  current  news  in  old  slave  days  and  during  the  late 
Civil  War;    suspected,  but   never  understood   by  the  white 


ITS   PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  275 

master ;  which,  as  a  superstition,  has  spread  itself  among  our 
ignorant  white  masses  as  the  "  Hoodoo."  Vudu,  or  Odoism, 
is  simply  African  fetichism  transplanted  to  American  soil. 

"  It  is  almost  impossible  for  persons  who  have  been  brought 
up  under  this  system  ever  to  divest  themselves  fully  of  its 
influence.  It  has  been  retained  among  the  blacks  of  this 
countiy,  and  especially  at  the  South,  though  in  a  less  open 
form,  even  to  the  present  day,  and  probably  will  never  be  fully 
abandoned  until  they  have  made  much  higher  attainments  in 
Christian  education  and  civilization.  In  some  of  the  planta- 
tions of  the  South,  as  well  as  in  the  West  Indies,  where  there 
has  been  less  Christian  culture,  egg-shells  are  hung  up  in  the 
corners  of  their  chimneys  to  cause  the  chickens  to  flourish ;  an 
extracted  tooth  is  thrown  over  the  house  or  worn  around  the 
neck  to  prevent  other  teeth  from  aching;  and  real  fetiches, 
though  not  known  by  this  name  [perhaps  "mascots"?],  are 
used  about  their  persons  to  shield  them  from  sickness  or  from 
the  effects  of  witchcraft."  ^ 

While  on  a  furlough  in  the  United  States  in  1891,  I  visited 
a  town  in  Southern  Virginia,  and  by  invitation  of  the  Negro 
pastor  of  the  African  church  addressed  them  on  foreign 
missions.  Somewhat  at  a  loss  what  attitude  to  take  toward  a 
Negro  audience  in  speaking  to  them  of  Africa,  I  candidly 
asked  the  pastor  what  I  should  say.  He  bade  me  speak 
exactly  as  if  I  was  addressing  an  educated  white  assembly.  I 
did  so.  In  describing  native  African  virtues  and  vices,  I 
mentioned  their  fetichism,  and  remarked  that  it  was  the  same 
that  obtained  in  the  United  States ;  and  lest  my  hearers 
might  think  I  was  personally  attacking  them,  I  added, "  down 
South  in  Georgia  and  Louisiana."  The  bench  of  elders 
sitting  just  in  front  of  me  broke  out,  "  And  jist  around  hyar, 
too." 

I  had  read  Cable's  "  Creole  Tales."  One  of  his  characters  is 
sick  with  a  strange  vague  affection  whose  symptoms  medicine 
had  failed  to  reach.  He  is  superstitious,  and  one  morning  he 
wakes  in  horror  at  finding  a  dead  frog   secreted  under   his 

1  Wilson 


276  FETICHISM   IN  WEST   AFRICA 

pillow.  That  fetich  was  no  novelist's  conjecture ;  it  was 
true  to  life.  About  1894  or  1895,  while  I  was  alone  in  charge 
of  Gabun  Sttition,  for  three  successive  mornings  when  1 
opened  the  front  door,  I  found  a  dried  frog  leaning  against  the 
threshold.  I  did  not  care  enough  about  it  to  inquire  its  sig- 
nificance or  to  ascertain  who  put  it  there.  Since  then  I 
have  found  that  it  is  not  used  as  a  fetich  by  people  of  the 
Gabun  region,  but  probably  by  Upper  Coast  people.  I 
remember  that  at  that  time  I  had  three  Bassa  workmen 
from  Liberia  whom  I  suspected  of  stealing  and  who  then 
suddenly  deserted  my  service.  I  think  they  placed  the  frog 
there,  either  to  injure  me  or  to  prevent  my  following  up 
their  theft. 

FOLK-LOKE. 

An  attractive  survival  of  African  life  in  America  are 
"  Uncle  Remus's  "  mystic  tales  of  "  Br'er  Rabbit."  They  are 
the  folk-lore  that  the  slave  brought  with  him  from  his  African 
home,  where  in  village  hut  and  forest  camp  often  have  been 
told  to  my  own  ears  similar  weird  personifications  before 
Harris  had  actually  written  them.  There  being  no  rabbits  in 
West  Africa,  "  Br'er  Rabbit  "  is  an  American  substitution  for 
"  Brother "  Nja  (Leopard),  or  Brother  Iheli  (Gazelle),  in 
Paia  Njambi's  (the   Creator's)  council  of  speaking  animals. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

TALES  OF  FETICH  BASED  ON  FACT 

THE  view-point  of  the  native  African  mind,  in  all  un- 
usual occurrences,  is  that  of  witchcraft.  Without 
looking  for  an  explanation  in  what  civilization  avouIcI  call  nat- 
ural causes,  his  thought  turns  at  once  to  the  supernatural. 
Indeed,  the  supernatural  is  so  constant  a  factor  in  his  hfe, 
that  to  him  it  furnishes  explanation  of  events  as  prompt  and 
reasonable  as  our  reference  to  the  recognized  forces  of  nature. 
Mere  coincidences  are  often  to  him  miracles. 

In  the  large  mass  of  materials  which  I  gathered  from  all 
native  sources  of  information  for  the  formulation  of  the  phi- 
losophy of  fetichism,  as  presented  in  the  former  part  of  this 
work,  I  found  many  remarkable  tales  some  of  whose  incidents 
were  probable,  and  which  to  me  were  explicable  on  natural 
grounds,  but  which  my  native  friends  believed  were  the  effect 
of  witchcraft  power.  I  did  not  dispute  them.  To  do  so  would 
either  have  closed  their  lips  or  made  them  omit  the  witchcraft 
element  from  any  subsequent  stories  they  might  narrate  to 
me.     I  thus  secured  these  tales  as  a  purely  native  product. 

I  did  not  use  a  note-book,  fearing  that  its  presence  would 
hamper  the  freedom  of  the  story-teller,  but  listened  carefully 
and  wrote  down  the  interview  immediately  at  its  close.  Not 
all  knew  that  I  was  writing  for  publication.  That  knowledge 
would  have  interfered  with  the  simplicity  of  their  utterances. 
Of  my  several  informants,  some  were  ignorant,  some  heathen, 
some  Christian,  only  a  few  well  educated.  Of  the  most  intel- 
ligent of  my  informants,  two  allowed  me  to  take  notes  as  they 
were  speaking,  and  I  really  wrote  from  dictation ;  they  con- 
siderately spoke  slowly,  so  that  I  should  miss  nothing,  while 


278  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

I  wrote  rapidly  and  at  the  same  time  had  to  translate  their 
language  into  English.  Of  those  two,  one  was  able  to  give 
part  of  the  interview  in  English.  The  thoughts  in  tliese 
stories  are  entirely  native.  So  are  most  of  the  words.  I  tried 
to  retain  the  narrators'  own  structure  of  sentences,  sacrificing  a 
little  of  Englisli  for  the  sake  of  native  idioms.  The  prevalence 
of  short  words  is  due  to  my  effort  at  exact  translation  of  their 
own  words.  Occasionally  I  have  used  longer  words  of  Latin 
origin  because  I  had  forgotten  their  word,  and  in  an  effort  to 
repeat  their  idea.  The  shortness  of  the  sentences  is  due  to 
the  natives'  graphic  and  animated  style  of  speaking.  Long 
sentences  are  foreign  to  their  mode  of  speech. 

The  following  two  stories  are  illustrative  of  the  native 
belief,  mentioned  in  Chapter  IV,  that  we  possess  not  only 
our  physical  body,  but  also  an  essential  or  "  astral "  form,  in 
shape  and  feature  like  the  body.  This  form,  or  "  life,"  with 
its  "heart,"  can  be  stolen  by  magic  power  while  one  is 
asleep,  and  the  individual  sleeps  on  unconscious  of  his  loss. 
If  the  life-form  is  returned  to  him  before  he  awakes,  he  will 
be  unaware  that  anything  unusual  has  happened.  If  he 
awakes  before  that  portion  of  him  has  been  returned,  though 
he  may  live  for  a  while,  he  will  sicken  and  eventually  die. 
If  the  magicians  who  stole  the  "  hfe  "  have  eaten  the  "  heart," 
he  sickens  at  once,  and  will  soon  die. 

I.  A  Witch  Sweetheart. 

A  certain  man  loved  a  woman  whom  he  expected  to  marry. 
He  visited  her  regularly.  Whenever  he  intended  to  visit  her, 
he  always  notified  her  thus :  "  I  will  be  coming  such  a  day  " 
or  "  such  an  hour."  Then  she  would  say,  "  Yes."  But  it 
happened  on  a  particular  day  when  he  told  her,  "  I  '11  be  com- 
ing to-night,"  she  said,  "  No,  not  to-night,  wait  till  next 
night."  He  replied,  "  No,  for  I  will  come  to-night."  But 
she  refused,  "No,  I  do  not  want  you  to  come  to-night." 
Then  he  asked,  "  What  is  your  objection  ?  Hitherto  you  have 
let  me  come  when  I  pleased.  What  is  tlie  matter  to-night  ?  " 
So  she  said,  "  I  do  not  want  3^ou  to  come,  because  I  will  be 


TALES   OF   FETICH    BASED   ON    FACT        279 

absent  to-night."  "Where  are  yougomg?"  he  asked.  To 
this  she  gave  as  answer  only,  "  Don't  come  !  I  don't  want  you 
to  come  ! "  So  the  man  said,  "  All  right !  I  Avill  not  come. 
If  you  don't  want  me,  then  1  'm  not  coming."  So  he  left  her, 
very  much  surprised  at  what  she  had  said,  and  began  to  think 
something  was  going  wrong ;  lie  thougiit  he  would  like  to 
know  for  himself  what  it  was. 

This  woman  was  one  of  those  who  belonged  to  the  Witch 
Society,  and  engaged  in  its  plays.  But  the  man  had  not  sus- 
pected this,  and  did  not  know  that  she  was  one  of  tliose  who 
played. 

The  native  belief  is  that  when  a  witch  or  wizard  has  seized 
some  one  to  "  eat"  his  "  life  "  or  do  him  other  harm,  if  there 
be  a  non-society  witness  hidden  or  in  the  open,  the  odor  of 
that  witness  weakens  the  witch  power,  and  the  attempt  at 
witchcraft  fails. 

This  man,  not  suspecting  the  real  state  of  the  case,  but  in 
order  to  know  what  was  going  on  with  the  woman,  came  softly 
and  hid  near  her  house,  where  he  might  be  able  to  see  whether 
any  one  went  in  or  came  out.  Soon  he  heard  the  door  of  her 
house  open.  He  saw  her  come  out  of  the  house  without  an}- 
clothing,  and  she  quietly  pulled  the  door  to  after  her  and 
closed  it,  and  then  walked  away  from  the  place.  All  this  the 
man  saw,  but  he  said  nothing.  He  stood  outside  waiting, 
waiting  until  she  should  return.  After  a  long  while,  as  he 
was  tired  standing,  he  thought  he  would  go  into  the  house  and 
hide  himself  somewhere.  It  was  not  long  after  this  that  he 
heard  a  little  noise  outside,  and  looking  through  the  aper- 
tures of  the  bamboo  wall  saw  her  and  others  with  her,  men 
and  women.  Some  of  them  were  carrying  the  form  of  a 
man  on  their  shoulders.  Others  spread  out  on  the  ground 
green  plantain  leaves,  and  stretched  the  form  on  the  leaves. 
Each  of  the  party  had  a  knife,  and  they  began  their  work  of 
cutting  the  form  into  pieces.  While  thus  occupied,  they  saw 
that  their  knives  would  not  penetrate.  Some  of  them  began 
to  step  around,  peeping  into  recesses  as  if  they  were  looking  for 
something.     Still  trying  to  cut,  their  knives  seemed  dulled ; 


280  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

no  one  of  them  could  succeed  in  cutting  out  a  single  piece. 
So  they  stopped,  and  began  to  sharpen  their  knives,  and  again 
tried  to  cut,  using  more  force  in  their  efforts.  They  worked 
rapidly,  for  they  had  to  hasten,  as  there  were  signs  of  ap- 
proaching day. 

As  they  still  were  unable  to  make  any  incisions  after  the 
sharpening  of  the  knives,  they  thought  it  very  strange,  and 
began  to  suspect  that  some  one  was  near  witnessing  what  they 
were  doing.  So  some  of  them  began  to  search  in  different 
directions ;  they  sniffed  to  detect  the  odor  of  a  person.  This 
they  did  over  and  over  again,  and  came  back,  and  again 
sharpened  their  knives,  and  again  they  failed.  And  then  they 
would  again  go  around,  sniffing  for  a  human  being. 

At  last,  as  it  was  near  morning,  they  had  to  give  up  their 
intention  of  cutting  into  this  form.  So  they  had  to  take 
it  up  again  on  their  shoulders  and  carry  it  back  to  where  they 
had  brought  it  from,  and  lost  their  feast. 

Then  the  woman  came  back  to  her  house,  very  much  dis- 
appointed and  excited.  Though  it  was  still  dark,  it  was  so 
near  daybreak  that  she  did  not  go  to  bed,  but  took  a  light, 
and  began  to  hunt  all  through  her  house,  having  at  last  be- 
gun to  suspect  that  perhaps  her  lover  was  there.  Finally 
she  found  him  where  he  was  hiding.  She  was  very  angry, 
saying,  "  Who  told  you  to  come  here  ?  What  brought  you  ? 
And  when  did  you  come  ?  Did  I  not  tell  you  not  to  come 
to-night?"  But  he  turned  on  her,  saying,  "But  where  have 
you  yourself  been?  And  what  have  you  yourself  been  doing? 
I  came  here  expecting  to  find  another  man  here.  But  that  is 
not  what  I  saw!  "  '        • 

She  trembled,  saying,  "  Have  you  been  here  a  long  time  ?  " 
And  he  significantly  said,  "Yes,  I  have!"  Then,  furious, 
she  said,  "  Now  you  have  seen  all  that  we  were  doing,  and 
you  have  found  me  out !  And  as  you  have  discovered  that  I 
am  engaged  in  witchcraft,  and  lest  you  tell  others  about  it, 
you  shall  see  that  I  will  put  an  end  to  your  life !  You  shall 
not  go  out  of  this  house  alive!  "  So  she  pulled  out  her  knife. 
But  the  man  was  quite  strong,  and  though  he  had  no  weapon, 


TALES    OF   FETICH    BASED   ON   FACT        281 

made  a  hard  fight.  He  was  stronger  than  the  woman,  was 
able  to  get  away  from  her,  and  left  the  house  just  before 
daylight. 

From  that  day  their  friendship  was  broken;  neither  cared 
again  to  see  the  face  of  the  other.  The  man  informed  on  the 
woman.  But  she  was  not  prosecuted ;  for  no  one  was  able  to 
make  specific  complaint  that  they  had  lost  their  "heart-life." 
That  form  had  been  restored  to  its  person  unrecognized  and 
uninjured.  No  one  out  of  the  society,  not  even  the  victim 
himself,  knew  of  the  attempt  that  had  been  made  on  him. 

II.    A  Jealous  Wife. 

A  man  of  the  Orungu  tribe  in  the  Ogowe  region  had 
several  wives,  of  whom  the  chief,  commonly  called  the 
"queen  "  or  head-wife,  had  no  children.  This  was  a  grief  to 
her  and  a  disappointment  to  the  husband.  But  one  of  his 
younger  women,  who  had  now  become  his  favorite,  had  a 
baby,  and  the  head-wife  was  jealous  of  her. 

The  husband  still  retained  the  older  one  as  the  bearer  of 
the  keys  and  in  direction  of  the  other  women,  though  he  was 
beginning  to  doubt  her,  as  he  suspected  her  of  witchcraft. 
But  he  said  nothing  about  it,  not  being  sure. 

It  is  believed  that  witches  can  enter  houses  without  open- 
ing doors  or  breaking  walls,  and  can  do  what  they  please 
without  other  people  knowing  of  it  at  the  time.  So 
one  night  this  man  and  his  young  wife  were  sleeping  in  the 
same  bed  with  their  little  babe.  Suddenly,  after  midnight, 
the  mother  hajDpened  to  wake  up  startled.  She  missed  her 
baby  from  the  bed.  She  looked  and  looked  all  over  the  bed 
from  head  to  foot,  and  did  not  find  it.  Then  she  was  fright- 
ened, woke  up  her  husband  gently,  and  told  him  in  a  whisper, 
"The  child  is  missing!     I  don't  see  the  child!  " 

The  husband  told  her  to  get  up  and  light  a  gum-torch  (for 
there  were  coals  smouldering  on  the  clay  hearth  used  as  a  fire- 
place), that  they  might  look  for  the  child.  She  did  so, 
and  both  hunted,  looking  under  the  bedstead  and  elsewhere, 
but  did  not  find  the  child.     Then  they  examined  the  windows 


282  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

and  door;  for  perhaps  the  child  had  been  taken  out  by  some 
one.  The  door  and  windows  were  all  properly  fastened. 
The  mother  was  very  much  troubled;  but  her  husband,  keep- 
ing his  own  counsel,  advised  her  not  to  scream  or  make  a 
noise,  but  said,  "Let  us  go  back  to  bed,  but  not  to  go  to 
sleep;  and  let  the  room  be  dark  again."  So  the  wife  put  out 
the  torch,  leaving  the  room  in  darkness;  and  they  returned 
to  bed.  Then  the  husband  said,  "Maybe  we  can  prove  or 
see  something  before  morning"  (for  he  suspected);  and  he 
added,  "  Whoever  or  whatever  has  taken  the  child  out  so 
secretly,  will  secretly  bring  it  back.  So  we  must  not  sleep, 
but  watch." 

So  both  lay  awake  in  bed  for  a  few  hours.  Then,  just  be- 
fore morning,  while  it  was  still  dark,  they  heard  a  little  noise 
outside  near  the  house,  like  the  rustling  of  wings  and  the 
panting  of  breath.  They  were  both  anxious,  and  had  their 
eyes  wide  open.  Soon  they  saw  the  room  flashed  full  of 
a  bright  light  from  the  roof.  [Witchcraft  people  are  noted 
for  having  a  light  which  they  can  thus  flash.]  Then  the  wife, 
as  soon  as  she  saw  the  light,  quietly  nudged  her  husband: 
and  he  returned  the  pressure,  to  let  her  know  that  he  was 
aware,  and  also  to  intimate  that  she  should  continue  silent  as 
himself;  and  they  pretended  to  be  sleeping  soundly. 

Soon  they  saw  the  figure  of  a  woman  descend  from  the  low 
roof,  but  with  no  hole  in  the  roof.  The  figure  came  to 
the  bedside  and  lifted  up  the  edge  of  the  mosquito-net  with 
one  hand,  in  the  other  holding  a  child.  As  soon  as  she  at- 
tempted to  put  the  baby  back  in  its  place,  between  the 
father  and  mother,  the  father,  as  he  was  the  stronger,  and 
nearer  to  the  figure  on  the  outside  of  the  bed,  got  up 
quickly,  and  seized  both  hands  of  the  woman  before  she  had 
time  to  let  go  of  the  child  and  escape  from  the  room.  He 
said  aloud  to  the  mother,  "  Get  up!  Your  baby  has  been  miss- 
ing. Now  light  the  light,  and  we  will  see  the  person  face 
to  face  who  has  taken  the  child  out!" 

The  young  mother  did  so,  and  they  discovered  that  it  was 
the  head-wife  who  had  brought  in  the  child. 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON    FACT        283 

Then,  when  the  father  felt  the  body  of  the  babe,  it  was  limp 
and  burning  with  fever. 

As  it  was  so  near  daylight  the  father  did  not  delay,  but 
began  at  once  to  make  a  fuss,  and  shouted  for  the  people  of 
the  village  to  gather  together.  And  he  began  a  "palaver" 
(investigation)  immediately.  When  all  the  people  had  as- 
sembled to  hear  the  palaver,  both  the  father  and  the  mother 
related  what  had  passed  during  the  night,  about  their  miss- 
ing the  child,   and  its  return. 

The  head-wife,  being  accused,  was  silent,  having  nothing 
to  say  for  herself;  for  she  was  both  ashamed  and  afraid  to 
confess  that  she  had  been  eating  the  life  of  the  baby.  But 
all  the  people  knew  that  such  things  were  done,  and  they 
believed  that  this  woman  had  done  with  the  baby  whatever 
she  wanted  to  do  while  she  had  it  outside  that  night. 

Then  the  father  of  the  child  tied  up  the  head-woman,  and 
said  to  her,  "  Now  I  have  you  in  my  hands,  I  will  not  let 
you  go  until  you  give  back  the  baby's  life,  and  make  it  well 
again."  [The  belief  is  that  if  the  "heart -life  "  has  not  been 
eaten  the  victim  can  recover.]  This  she  was  not  able  to  do, 
for  she  had  eaten  its  "heart."  So  the  next  day  the  baby  died. 
And  the  husband  executed  that  head-woman  by  cutting  her 
throat. 

The  above  incident  was  told  me  at  Libreville  by  a  very 
intelligent  Mpongwe  as  having  actually  occurred  in  the 
Gabun  region.  It  is  fully  believed  that  walls  are  no  ob- 
stacle to  the  passage  of  the  bodies  of  those  possessing  the 
power  of  sorcery.  The  "light"  spoken  of  I  have  seen.  I 
do  not  know  what  it  was.  From  a  small  point  it  would  flash 
with  starlike  rays.  It  was  carried  by  a  man,  who  disap- 
peared when  pursued.  A  Christian  native  told  me  that  he 
once  pursued  it,  and  caught  the  bearer  with  a  torch  concealed 
in  a  hollow  cylinder;  the  flashing  was  caused  by  his  thrust- 
ing it  in  and  out  of  the  cylinder. 


284  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

III.    Witchcraft  Mothers. 

(On  an  itineration  in  my  boat  on  the  Ogowe  interior,  in 
1890,  I  came  to  a  village  of  the  Akele  tribe,  whose  inhab- 
itants were  in  an  intense  state  of  excitement.  All  the  men 
were  brandishing  guns  and  spears  or  daggers ;  women  were 
gesticulating  and  screaming ;  the  loins  of  all  were  girded  for 
fight ;  and  a  few  only  of  the  older  men  and  some  strangers 
were  appealing  for  quiet. 

Among  the  latter  was  a  native  trader  of  the  INIpongwe 
coast  tribe.  His  trade  interests  made  for  peace.  I  knew 
him,  as  he  had  received  some  education  in  our  Gabun 
school. 

I  saw  that  in  such  confusion  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt 
to  ask  a  hearing  for  my  gospel  message.  I  did  not  wait  to 
inquire  the  cause  of  the  day's  commotion,  and  passed  on 
to  another  village. 

Subsequently  the  Mpongwe  man  told  me  the  story. 
Though  slightly  educated  and  enlightened,  he  was  not  a 
Christian  and  believed  in  fetiches.  His  account,  therefore, 
was  from  the  heathen  standpoint.  I  cannot  repeat  his  own 
wording,  but  the  outline  of  the  story  is  exactly  his.) 

In  that  village  were  two  slave  women,  each  married  to  a 
free  husband.  Each  was  expecting  to  become  a  mother,  — 
No.  1  in  three  months,  and  No.  2  in  six  months.  They  were 
friends;  and,  unknown  to  their  husbands,  were  members  of 
the  Witchcraft  Society,  and  were  accustomed  secretly  to  at- 
tend and  take  part  in  the  society's  midnight  meetings,  and 
plays.  Just  what  is  the  nature  of  those  plays  is  not  quite 
certain,  but  it  is  known  that  wild  orgies  of  dancing  consti- 
tute a  part  of  them. 

These  two  women,  that  they  might  be  freer  for  their  danc- 
ing and  other  movements,  were  accustomed,  in  going  to  the 
meetings,  to  divest  themselves  temporarily  of  their  unborn 
babes.  This  they  were  able  to  do  by  witchcraft  power,  in 
virtue   of  which   the  possessor   can  pass,   or   cause  any  one 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT        285 

else  to  pass,  uninjured  through  any  material  object,  as  a 
ray  of  light  passes  through  glass. 

This  they  did  on  their  way  to  the  meeting-place  on  the 
edge  of  the  forest.  They  laid  their  babes  on  the  grass  in 
a  secluded  spot,  and  resumed  them  on  their  return.  As 
they  did  so,  No.  1  observed  that  hers  was  a  male,  and  No.  2 
that  hers  was  a  female.  They  did  this  many  nights  in 
succession. 

Subsequently  No.  2  began  to  be  envious  of  No.  1  in  the 
possession  by  the  latter  of  a  male  child.  The  husband  of 
No.  2  had  been  very  anxious  for  a  son.  She  knew  that  if 
she  could  present  him  with  a  son  he  would  be  very  proud, 
and  would  enlarge  her  position  and  privileges  in  the  family. 
So,  one  night,  she  did  not  wait  for  her  friend  No.  1  to  re- 
turn with  her,  but,  excusing  herself  from  the  play,  came 
back  on  the  path  alone.  Coming  to  where  the  two  babes 
were  lying,  she  deliberately  exchanged  her  own  girl  for 
the  boy  of  No.  1. 

The  latter  stayed  very  late  at  the  play, —  so  late  that,  as  she 
hasted  home,  fearful  lest  the  morning  light  should  find  her 
on  the  path  (a  dangerous  thing  to  a  witch-player),  on  coming 
to  where  the  babes  had  been  deposited,  she  snatched  up  the 
remaining  one  without  examining  it,  and,  supposing  it  to  be 
hers,  resumed  the  natural  possession  of  it. 

Shortly  after  this,  the  nine  months  of  No.  1  were  fulfilled, 
and  she  bore  a  child  which,  to  her  surprise,  she  saw  was  a 
female.  She  made  no  remark,  as  she  immediately  suspected 
what  had  been  done.  She  waited  three  months,  until  the 
days  of  No.  2  also  were  fulfilled.  At  the  birth  of  the  child 
of  No.  2  there  was  great  rejoicing  by  the  husband  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  son.  He  made  a  great  feast,  and  called  together 
a  large  gathering  of  people.  Among  them  was  not  invited 
the  woman  No.  1 ;  for  she  and  No.  2  were  no  longer  friendly, 
though  neither  of  them  had  said  anything. 

In  the  midst  of  the  rejoicings  No.  1  made  her  appearance, 
though  uninvited,  and  striding  among  the  guests,  went 
silently  into  the  bedroom,  carrying  a  three-months-old  female 


286  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

babe.  She  went  to  the  side  of  the  bed  of  No.  2,  kiid  down 
the  female  child,  saying,  "There's  your  baby!"  snatched 
up  the  male  infant,  saying,  "  This  is  mine ! "  and  strode 
out  of  the  room  into  the  street  and  on  the  way  to  her 
house. 

A  scream  from  No.  2  startled  the  crowd  of  guests ;  word 
was  passed  that  the  boy  was  being  stolen,  and  No.  1  was  pur- 
sued and  brought  back ;  but  she  desperately  refused  to  give 
up  the  boy.  The  whole  village  was  at  once  thrown  into 
confusion. 

That  was  the  state  of  affairs  on  the  day  that  I  arrived 
there.  My  informant  told  me  that  he  and  others  induced  the 
crowd  to  quiet,  by  saying  that  the  matter  could  better  be  set- 
tled by  a  talk  than  by  guns,  by  sitting  down  in  council  than 
by  standing  up  in  fight. 

On  being  brought  before  the  council  or  palaver,  No.  1 
was  calm  and  firm.  She  still  held  to  the  boy-baby.  She 
said  she  was  willing  to  be  judged,  but  demanded  that  No.  2 
should  also  be  made  to  confront  the  council.  The  sense  of 
guilt  of  the  latter  made  her  weak  and  unable  to  face  the  friend 
she  had  wronged. 

Charged  with  stealing.  No.  1  made  a  bold  speech.  She 
said,  "Yes;  I  have  taken  my  own!  If  that  be  stealing, 
I  have  stolen!"  And  then  she  told  the  whole  truth  of  the 
witchcraft  plays  of  herself  and  No.  2.  The  latter,  overcome 
with  shame  for  her  crime,  did  not  deny;  she  admitted  all. 
And  No.  1  closed  her  defence  by  saying,  "  So  this  other 
woman  has  nothing  about  which  to  make  complaint.  She 
has  her  child,  and  I  have  mine,  and  that  settles  the  matter." 

The  crowd  was  amazed,  and  the  husbands  were  ashamed 
at  finding  that  their  wives  were  witches.  The  husband  of 
No.  2  was  no  longer  disposed  to  fight  after  his  wife  had 
admitted  that  the  boy-baby  was  not  her  own.  The  matter 
was  dropped,  as  no  one  was  really  harmed.  Neither  husband 
was  disposed  to  fine  the  wife  of  the  other  for  her  witchcraft, 
as  both  were  guilty. 

The  guests  ate  the  feast,  but  the  host  had  no  satisfaction 


TALES    OF   FETICH    BASED    ON    FACT        287 

in  its  now  useless  expenditure  except  that  it  was  considered 
sufficient  reparation  to  the  husband  of  No.  1  for  his  own 
wife's  original  tlieft. 

IV.   The  Wizard  House-Breaker. 

(The  incidents  narrated  in  the  following  three  stories,  The 
Wizard  House-Breaker,  The  Wizard  Murderer,  The  Wiz- 
ard and  his  Invisible  Dog,  my  informant  asserted  were 
actual  occurrences;  Nos.  IV.  and  VI.  occurring  in  the  Gabun 
region,  and  the  parties  known.  The  witchcraft  part  of  the 
stories  consists  in  the  strange  light  which  wizards  and  witches 
are  said  to  possess ;  it  is  under  their  control  to  display  or 
hide,  and  it  gives  them  power  to  overcome  time  and  space. 
The  scene  of  No.  V.  is  on  the  Ogowe  River.) 

There  were  a  husband  and  wife  who  had  been  married  a 
number  of  years.  She  had  a  child,  a  little  boy.  The  hus- 
band had  a  brother;  and  this  brother  had  taken  a  strong  fancy 
to  the  woman,  and  wanted  to  possess  her.  Secretly  lie  was 
asking  her  to  live  with  him.  But  the  woman  always  refused, 
saying,  "No,  I  do  not  want  it!"  Then  this  brother's  love 
began  to  change  to  anger.  He  cherished  vexation  in  his 
heart  toward  the  woman,  and  asked  her,  "Wh}^  do  you  al- 
ways refuse  me?  You  are  the  wife,  not  of  a  stranger,  but 
of  my  brother.  He  and  I  are  one,  and  you  ought  to  accept 
me."     But  she  persisted,  "No,   I  don't  want  it!  " 

The  brother's  anger  deepened  into  revenge.  He  possessed 
nyemba  (witchcraft  power),  and  determined  to  use  it. 

One  day  this  woman  had  to  go  to  her  plantation ;  and  she 
arranged  for  the  journey,  taking  her  little  boy  with  her. 
Before  she  left  the  village  to  go  to  the  plantation,  she  told 
the  townspeople,  "I  will  remain  at  the  plantation  for  some 
days,  to  take  care  of  my  gardens ;  for  I  am  tired  of  losses  by 
the  wild  beasts  spoiling  my  crops."  But  the  other  women 
said,  "Ah!  your  plantation  is  too  far;  it  is  not  safe  for  you 
to  be  by  yourself."  But  she  said,  "  I  cannot  help  it;  I  have 
to  go."     She  was  brave,  and  persisted  in  her  plan,  and  made 


288  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

all  preparations.  On  a  set  day,  with  her  basket  on  her  back, 
her  child  on  her  left  hip,  and  her  machete  in  her  right  hand, 
the  started.  She  went  on,  on,  steadily ;  reached  the  planta- 
tion, and  rested  there  the  remainder  of  that  day  with  her 
child.  After  her  evening  meal  she  shut  the  door  of  the  hut 
and  went  to  bed.  The  door  was  fastened  with  strings  and  a 
bar,   for  the  plantation  hamlets  had  no  locks. 

She  awoke  suddenly  about  midnight,  and  thought  she 
heard  a  noise  outside.  She  listened  quietly.  Then  she  heard 
the  sound  again.  Presently  she  discovered  by  the  noise 
that  some  one  was  trying  to  climb  upon  the  top  of  the 
hut,  for  the  roof  was  low.  Soon,  then,  she  observed  that 
this  person  was  trying  to  break  open  the  palm-thatch  of 
the  low  roof.  She  still  lay  quietly.  But  she  remembered 
a  big  spear  which  the  husband  always  kept  in  one  of  the 
rooms  of  that  hut;  so  she  slowly  got  out  of  bed,  and  very 
softly  went  to  the  corner  of  the  room  where  the  spear  was 
standing,  and  returned  to  bed  with  it. 

The  breaking  of  the  thatch  continued.  Soon  she  saw  the 
room  filled  with  a  strange  light,  and  then  she  saw  a  man 
trying  to  enter  the  roof  head  foremost.  She  bravely  kept 
still,  and  watched  his  head  and  shoulders  enter.  She  could 
not  see  his  face,  and  did  not  know  who  he  was.  But  she 
did  not  wait  for  certainty;  she  thrust  the  spear  upward  at 
the  man's  head.  Immediately  the  figure  disappeared,  and 
she  heard  a  heavy  thud  as  he  fell  to  the  ground  into  the 
street  outside. 

She  now  began  to  be  frightened ;  she  no  longer  felt  safe, 
and  dreaded  what  might  happen  before  morning.  So  she 
began  to  get  ready  to  return  to  town  that  very  night.  She 
girded  her  loin  garment,  fastened  the  cloth  for  carrying  her 
child,  took  her  machete,  hasted  out  of  the  hut,  and  started 
for  her  village.  In  her  fear  she  ran,  and  rested  by  walking. 
Thus,  alternately  running  and  walking,  she  reached  the  vil- 
lage so  exhausted  and  weak  with  loss  of  sleep  that  when 
her  husband's  door  was  opened  she  fell  fainting  on  the  floor. 
He  and  others  were  alarmed,    and  asked,   "What?   What's 


TALES   OF   FETICH    BASED   ON   FACT        289 

tlie  matter?"  As  soon  as  slie  was  ahle  to  speak,  she 
told  the  whole  story.  They  asked  her,  "  Did  you  see  the 
person?  Do  you  know  him?"  She  said,  "No;  only  one 
thing  I  know:  it  was  a  man,  and  he  fell  into  the  street." 

So,  when  daylight  came,  the  husband  and  others  went  to 
the  plantation  to  see  whether  they  could  find  the  man. 
When  they  reached  the  plantation,  they  were  very  much  sur- 
prised to  see  that  the  man  was  this  brother.  He  was  lying 
dead,   with  the  spear  in  his  neck. 

The  husband  was  not  vexed  at  his  wife  for  the  death  of 
his  brother;  he  was  pleased  that  she  had  so  well  defended 
herself. 

V.  The  Wizard  Murderer. 

(My  informant  asserted  that  this  really  happened  in  the 
Ogowe.) 

The  parties  are  a  husband  and  wife,  their  two  little  chil- 
dren, and  a  younger  brother  of  the  husband.  One  of  the 
children,  a  boy,  was  a  lad  old  enough  to   understand  affairs. 

The  brother-in-law  loved  the  woman,  and  secretly  tried  to 
draw  her  affections  to  himself;  but  to  all  his  solicitation 
she  gave  only  persistent  refusal.  Thus  matters  went  on,  he 
asking  and  she  refusing;  and  then  his  love  turned  to  hatred. 

It  happened  one  day  that  the  husband  and  wife  had  a  big 
quarrel  of  their  own.  The  wife  was  so  angry  that  she  said 
she  would  leave  him,  take  the  children,  and  go  to  her  father's 
house.  But  that  home  was  far  away,  and  could  not  be 
reached  in  one  day.  Other  women  tried  to  prevent  her  going, 
as  she  would  have  to  spend  the  night  in  the  forest  on  the 
way;  but  she  insisted. 

Leaving  her  clothing  and  other  goods,  she  started  off  with 
the  two  children,  a  little  food,  and  her  machete.  Trying  to 
make  the  journey  in  one  day,  she  walked  very  fast.  But 
when  the  sun  had  set,  and  soon  darkness  would  fall,  the  lad 
said,  "Mother,  as  we  cannot  reach  there  to-night,  don't  you 
think  we  'd  better  stop  and  arrange  a  sleeping-place  before 

19 


290  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

dark,  and  let  the  spot  be  a  little  aside  from  the  public  path?  " 
The  mother  said,  "Yes;  that  is  good!"  Then  she  gave  the 
babe  to  the  lad  to  hold,  while  she  with  her  machete  began 
to  cut  away  bushes  and  clear  the  ground  for  a  convenient 
sleeping -spot.  After  she  had  cut  away  some  bushes,  the  lad 
watching  her,  saw  that  she  was  clearing  a  space  larger  than 
was  needed  for  herself.  He  asked  her,  "  Do  you  intend 
that  we  all  shall  sleep  in  that  one  place,  —  you  and  baby 
and  I?"  The  mother  said,  "Yes."  But  he  said,  "Why, 
no !  Fix  two  places,  —  I  by  myself,  and  you  and  baby  in 
another  place."  The  mother  replied,  "No,  I  cannot  let 
you  sleep  alone  in  this  forest;  I  want  you  near  me." 
However,  the  lad  insisted:  "But  if  anything  happens  to  us 
in  the  night,  then  we  will  be  lost  all  together.  I  am  not 
willing  that  we  should  be  all  in  the  same  place." 

So  the  lad  began  to  search  for  a  place  for  himself,  and  came 
to  a  big  tree  which  was  not  very  far  from  his  mother's  chosen 
spot.  He  called  her  to  him,  and  said,  "  I  have  found  a  good 
place.  Just  you  clear  for  me  behind  this  big  tree,  and  dig  a 
trench  for  me  to  lie  in,  just  below  the  level  of  the  ground." 
The  mother  did  so. 

After  the  two  spots  were  cleared,  they  ate  their  little  even- 
ing meal,  and  night  came.  Then  the  lad  said,  "  Now  I  go 
to  lie  in  the  trench,  and  you  sprinkle  leaves  over  me  to  hide 
me,  and  then  you  go  to  your  sleeping-place.  And  if  anything 
happens  to  me  at  night,  I  promise  1  will  not  cry  out;  I  will 
remain  silent.  And  you  promise  that  if  anything  happens  to 
you,  you  also  will  not  cry  out,  nor  call  to  me."  The  mother 
agreed,  and  both  went  to  sleep. 

Not  long  after  this,  both  were  awakened  by  a  strange  flash- 
ing light,  and  the  mother  saw  some  one  coming  to  the  place 
where  she  was  lying.  Then  the  light  was  suddenly  extin- 
guished; and  she  saw  a  man  near  her,  and  recognized  that 
he  was  her  brother-in-law.  She  was  exceedingly  alarmed, 
knowing  that  he  did  not  come  with  good  intent.  In  her 
fright  she  hoped  to  gain  time  by  pretending  to  be  friendly 
with  him.     So  she  exclaimed,   "Oh!    My  young   husband! 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT        291 

Now  3'0ii  have  coine  after  nie,  so  that  your  brother's  wife 
vyill  not  have  to  sleep  in  the  forest  alone.  Now  we  will 
make  friendship  and  he  good  friends."  But  he  replied  in 
anger:  "Friends,  you  say?  You  shall  see  what  kind  of 
friends  I  will  make  with  you  to-night!  You,  the  woman 
who  hates  me!  Where  is  the  lad?"  She,  determined  to 
shield  the  child,  said,  "  The  lad  did  not  come  with  me ;  he 
preferred  to  stay  in  town  with  his  father."  The  man  replied, 
"  You  are  not  telling  me  the  truth.  Tell  me  where  the  lad 
is!"  But  she  persisted  in  her  statement,  "He  is  left  in  town 
with  his  father." 

Then  the  man  walked  about  in  search  of  the  lad,  going 
even  very  near  to  where  he  was  lying  awake  in  the  trench. 
But  the  leaves  hid  him,  and  his  uncle  did  not  discern  that 
the  ground  had  been  disturbed.  Returning  to  the  woman, 
he  said,  "Good!  you  are  telling  the  truth.  I  don't  see  the 
lad.  But  now  I  am  ready  to  attend  to  you.  You  shall  see." 
So  he  approached  the  woman  to  seize  her.  She  was  so  para- 
lyzed with  fear  that  she  neither  attempted  to  run  away,  nor, 
though  her  machete  was  lying  near,  did  she  lay  hold  of  it. 
Even  had  she  done  so,  she  was  too  weak  with  her  journey  to 
defend  herself.  The  man  snatched  up  the  babe  that  still  was 
sleeping,  and  looking  around  for  a  rough,  projecting  root, 
violently  flung  the  babe  against  it.  It  made  no  cry ;  and  both 
he  and  the  mother  supposed  it  was  instantly  killed.  Then 
he  drew  his  machete,  which  he  had  made  very  sharp,  and 
began  to  cut  and  slash  the  woman.  She  pleaded  and  cried  for 
help;  but  there  was  no  help  near.  She  fell,  covered  with 
wounds,  and  died  on  the  spot.  All  this  the  lad  saw  and 
heard.  After  killing  the  mother,  the  man  began  again  to 
search  for  the  lad,  but  did  not  find  him ;  and,  as  it  was  now 
after  midnight,  he  left  the  place  to  go  back  to  town. 

Soon  after  he  was  gone,  the  lad,  exhausted  with  terror  and 
fatigue,  fell  asleep.  But  he  awoke  again  in  the  early  day- 
light. Arising  from  his  trench,  he  went  with  grief  and  distress 
to  see  the  two  corpses.  Looking  at  his  mother's  blood- 
covered  form,  he  saw  that  she  was   dead.     Looking  at  his 


292  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

baby  brother  lying  on  the  root,  he  took  up  tlie  little  form, 
sobbing,  "  Only  I  am  alive.  Even  this  little  child  was  not 
spared.  Am  I  to  go  on  my  journey  all  alone  ?  "  Examining 
the  limp  body  still  further,  it  seemed  still  to  show  signs  of 
life;  and  he  said  to  himself,  "I  think  I  will  try  to  save 
it.  I  am  strong  enough  to  carry  it  to  my  mother's  people, 
to  whom  I  shall  tell  this  whole  story." 

So  he  took  up  the  cloth  in  which  his  mother  had  carried 
the  child,  adjusted  it  for  himself,  placed  the  unconscious 
form  in  it,  and  started  on  his  journey.  A  short  distance 
beyond  brought  him  to  a  brook.  Before  he  crossed  it,  he 
stooped  to  take  a  drink  of  water.  Then  examining  the 
little  body  again,  he  felt  that  it  was  not  stiff  and  was 
still  warm.  Said  he,  "Ah!  perhaps  it  has  a  little  life!  I 
better  give  it  a  drink."  So  he  tried;  and  the  baby  drank. 
He  rejoiced.  "  So  perhaps  it  will  be  alive.  I  better  bathe 
it."  And  he  did  so.  Then  he  crossed  the  brook,  and  jour- 
neyed on.  Before  he  reached  his  grandfather's  village,  he 
crossed  another  brook,  and  bathed  the  babe,  and  gave  it  a 
drink  as  at  the  first  brook. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  village  the  people  were  surprised 
to  see  him  without  his  mother.  His  grandfather  at  once 
wanted  to  know  his  story  and  why  he  had  come  there  alone. 
Said  he,  "Please,  before  I  tell  my  story,  try  to  save  this 
baby." 

After  the  people  had  looked  to  the  baby's  needs  and  saw 
that  it  might  live,  they  gathered  together  to  listen  to  what 
the  lad  had  to  say.  When  they  had  heard  his  account,  they 
started  back  with  him  to  find  his  mother's  corpse.  They 
took  it  up  and  carried  it  to  her  husband's  village,  there 
to  hold  palaver  over  the  death.  As  soon  as  they  reached 
the  village,  instead  of  announcing  themselves  as  visitors  to 
the  husband,  they  went  straight  to  the  brother-in-law's  house. 
They  found  him  sitting  in  the  veranda.  They  laid  the  corpse 
at  his  feet.  This  so  startled  him  that  a  look  of  guilt  showed 
on  his  face.  Looking  at  the  party  who  had  brought  the 
corpse,  he  saw  among  them  the  lad ;  and  at  once  he  felt  sure 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON    FACT       293 

that  this  lad  had  been  a  witness  of  his  crime,  lie  lost  his 
self-control,  and  began  to  scold,  "What  do  yon  pnt  this  thing 
at  my  feet  for?     Take  it  away  I  " 

Then  all  the  townspeople  gathered  around  him,  being 
horrified  at  the  news  of  the  woman's  death.  The  hnsband 
called  them  all  to  a  council,  and  the  palaver  was  held  at 
his  house.  There  the  grandfather  and  the  lad  told  the 
whole  story. 

The  brother-in-law  began  to  enter  a  denial ;  but  the  hus- 
band said,  "No,  you  are  guilty!  and  because  we  are  brothers, 
and  we  are  one,  the  guilt  is  also  mine ;  and  I  will  confess  for 
you.  You  are  guilty.  Your  actions  show  it.  Why  did  you 
become  so  angry  as  soon  as  you  saw  the  corpse  at  your  feet?  " 

But  the  wife's  family  said  to  the  husband,  "We  have  no 
quarrel  with  you.  We  want  only  the  person  who  killed  our 
sister,  and  a  fine  of  money  for  our  loss." 

Then  the  husband  said,  "You  are  right;  this  man  killed 
her.  Take  him,  and  for  a  fine  take  his  slaves  and  other  prop- 
erty. He  has  deliberately  deprived  me  of  a  wife,  and  ni}- 
children  of  a  mother.  Take  all  he  owns."  It  was  so  done; 
and  the  assemblage  dispersed. 

VI.    The  Wizard  and  his  Invisible  Dog. 

(This,  my  informant  asserted,  actually  happened  at  the 
town  of  Libreville,  Gabun.) 

One  night  a  young  woman  was  alone  in  her  house.  She 
was  married;  but,  that  particular  night,  the  husband  was 
absent. 

After  she  had  gone  to  her  bed  for  the  night,  she  slept,  but 
not  very  soundly.  Half  awake,  she  thought  she  heard  some- 
thing moving  in  the  front  reception-room  (ikenga).  She  had 
lowered  the  lamp  in  her  bedroom,  but  it  still  gave  enough 
light  for  her  to  see.  She  slightly  opened  the  mosquito-net 
on  one  side  and  began  to  look  and  listen.  But  she  saw 
no  one  nor  anything  unusual  in  her  room.  But  as  the  door 
between   her  bedroom  and  the  reception-room  was  slightly 


294  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

ajar,  she  looked  toward  its  opening,  and  thought  she  saw  a 
figure  moving  in  that  room.  She  felt  sure  there  was  some 
one  there.  So  she  stepped  softly  out  of  the  bed,  and  peeped 
through  the  narrow  opening  of  the  door.  Sure  enough,  there 
was  a  man. 

She  was  frightened,  but  controlled  herself.  She  was  puz- 
zled to  know  how  he  had  got  into  that  room,  whose  outer 
door  she  knew  she  had  fastened  before  she  went  to  bed.  She 
crept  quietly  back  to  her  bed,  and  then  began  to  shout, 
"Who  is  that?  How  did  you  get  in?  I  see  you!"  There 
was  no  answer.  The  figure  ceased  moving,  and  stood  still. 
The  woman  again  cried  out,  "  Who  are  you  ?  When  did  you 
come  in?  What  do  you  want?"  The  man  replied  in  a  low 
voice,  "It  is  I!  "  She  rejoined,  "  Who  is  'I  '  ?  Are  you  only 
'me'?  Who  are  you?  How  did  you  succeed  in  entering? 
Go  out!  "  So  he  apjDarently  opened  the  door  and  went  out. 
She  was  so  frightened  that  she  did  not  inmiediately  follow 
him,  nor  did  she  make  a  public  outcry. 

Awhile  afterward  she  recovered  self-control,  and  arose  and 
went  into  the  outer  room,  and  assured  herself  that  the  out- 
side door  was  fast,  as  she  had  left  it.  She  believed  he  had 
entered  the  closed  door  by  witchcraft  art. 

The  next  morning  she  told  her  village  people  the  story ; 
but  she  was  afraid  to  mention  the  man's  name  (for  she  knew 
who  he  was),  because  many  people  thought  he  possessed  power 
as  a  wizard,  and  she  feared  he  would  revenge  himself  on  her. 
She  told  his  name  only  to  her  mother. 

Not  long  afterward  he  came  again  to  her  house  when  she 
was  alone  at  night,  but  did  not  enter.  He  came  to  the  out- 
side wall  against  which  he  knew  her  bedstead  stood.  Lying 
there,  she  could  see  his  form  through  the  cracks  in  the  bam- 
boo wall.  She  saw  this  as  she  happened  to  awake  from  sleep. 
She  saw  his  figure  standing  still,  and  she  heard  a  sound  as 
of  the  tinkling  of  a  bell  moving  about,  such  as  natives  tie  to 
the  necks  of  their  dogs  in  hunting.  The  wizard  had  brought 
with  him  this  time  a  small  invisible  beast  to  whose  neck  the 
invisible   but   audible  bell    was  attached;    and   she  heard  a 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      295 

sound  along  the  bottom  of  the  wall,  as  if  the  animal  was 
scratching  a  hole  for  its  master's  entrance.  This  time  she 
was  so  alarmed  that  she  screamed  aloud  to  the  people  of  the 
village;  and  then,  through  the  chinks  in  the  wall,  she  saw 
passing  by  in  the  street  the  figure  of  the  same  man. 

The  very  next  day  tlie  woman  began  to  be  sick  of  a  fever. 
For  several  days  she  was  quite  ill,  and  people  began  to  be 
alarmed  for  her.  Her  sickness  grew  very  much  worse.  Her 
people  sent  for  a  Senegal  man,  living  in  Libreville,  who  had 
quite  a  reputation  as  a  doctor  in  that  kind  of  sickness.  When 
this  doctor  came,  she  was  able  to  speak  only  in  a  low  voice, 
and  she  recounted  to  him  what  had  happened.  He  asked  her 
to  mention  the  precise  spot  on  which  the  man  had  stood  out- 
side of  the  wall  of  her  house.  She  described  to  her  mother 
the  particular  spot,  and  the  mother  took  tlie  doctor  to  show 
him.  He  scraped  up  clay  from  the  place  and  mixed  it 
in  a  small  bowl  of  cold  water.  He  directed  that  after  she 
had  been  given  a  bath  morning  and  evening  this  muddy  water 
should  be  rubbed  over  her  body.  She  said  that  when  it  was 
thus  rubbed  over  her  skin,  her  flesh  temporarily  felt  as  if  it 
was  paralyzed. 

Her  sickness  continued  more  than  a  month,  and  then  she 
recovered.  Soon  after  her  recovery  the  man  who  had  at- 
tempted to  enter  her  room,  and  who  was  suspected  of  hav- 
ing caused  her  sickness  by  witchcraft  art,  suddenly  left 
Gabun,  and  went  to  another  country. 

VII.    Spirit-Dancing. 

Antyande,  a  Mpongwe  woman  of  the  town  of  Libreville, 
Gabun,  is  a  leader  of  a  company  of  ten  or  a  dozen  women  in 
a  certain  native  dance  called  "ivanga, "  which  is  performed 
only  by  women.  Some  dance  it  only  as  an  exhibition  of 
their  gymnastic  skill;  others  mix  with  it  fetich  and  witch- 
craft arts,  and  claim  that  their  movements  are  under  spirit 
power.  Antyande,  more  than  the  other  women  of  the  com- 
pany, uses  witchcraft  in  her  performances.  She  seems  almost 
to   glide   through    the    air,    alighting   on  the   knees    of   sit- 


296  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

ting  spectators  without  giving  them  the  impression  of  weight, 
gyrating  on  small  stools  without  moving  the  stools  from 
their  position,  and  making  many  other  wonderful  physi- 
cal contortions  in  an  exceedingly  graceful  and  easy  manner. 
She  even  goes  to  graveyards  at  night,  accompanied  by  three 
or  four  men  and  women,  to  get  what  they  call  the  spirits 
of  the  dead.  It  is  said  by  some  of  the  men  who  have  gone 
there  with  her  that  they  do  not  understand  what  she  does, 
but  that  it  is  so  very  strange  and  awful  that  they  are  afraid. 
The  reason  why  she  goes  for  these  abambo  (ghosts)  of  the 
graves  is  that  she  may  be  spry  and  alert,  and  able  to  do 
with  her  body  whatever  she  pleases.  She  claims  also  to 
be  accompanied  by  a  leopard  and  a  bush-cat  that  are  visible 
to  her  but  not  to  others.  As  these  animals  are  noted  for 
their  quick  and  agile  movements,  and  are  under  her  witch- 
power  control,  they  are  able  to  impart  to  her  these  qualities. 
In  January,  1902,  she  was  dancing  her  ivanga,  and  there 
was  a  woman  among  the  spectators  who  had  been  drinking 
to  the  point  of  intoxication.  In  her  foolishness  she  deter- 
mined to  help  Antyande  by  assuming  to  be  directress  to 
keep  the  spectators  in  order.  But,  being  drunk,  she  could 
not  do  so;  she  only  made  disorder.  In  attempting  to  make 
matters  straight  she  only  made  them  crooked.  Antyande 
asked  her  to  get  out  of  her  way.  Mau}'^,  also,  of  the  spec- 
tators begged  the  woman  to  cease  interfering;  but  she  would 
not,  and  finally  she  vexed  Antyande  by  spoiling  her  move- 
ments in  getting  too  close  in  front  of  her.  Antyande 's  patience 
was  exhausted,  and  she  suddenly  revealed  a  secret  that  as- 
tonished many  even  of  her  intimate  acquaintances,  saying, 
"  Whoever  is  related  to  this  drunken  woman,  please  tell  her 
to  get  out  of  my  way  while  I  am  dancing,  because  my  dance 
is  not  a  mere  gymnastic  exercise.  I  have  leopards  and  bush- 
cats  about  me,  and  if  she  comes  too  near  me,  and  the  tails 
of  these  animals  should  twist  around  her  legs,  then  she  will 
get  a  sickness :  and  if  that  happens,  her  people  must  not  hold 
me  responsible  for  it,  for  I  have  given  you  this  warning." 
This  surprised  many  of  the  people;  for  they  had  supposed 


Ekope  of  the  Ivanga  Daxce.  —  Gabun. 


TALES  OF  FETICH  BASED  ON  FACT   297 

she  was  nothing  more  than  an  unusually  graceful  dancer, 
and  that  her  success  was  purely  physical.  Now,  publicly, 
slie  admitted  that  the  j)ower  in  her  limbs  and  body  causing 
her  graceful  undulations  was  a  supernatural  one.  So  some 
of  the  women  laid  hold  of  the  drunken  woman,  and  induced 
her  to  get  out  of  the  way. 

While  dancing,  Antyande  wears  a  wide  belt  called  "ekope," 
which  is  made  with  white  and  red  stripes,  and  adorned  with 
fringes  of  small  bells  in  bands  like  sleigh-bells.  Jt  is  known 
that  her  ekope  has  been  heard  and  seen  moving  as  if  in  the 
rhythm  of  a  dance  in  her  own  room  when  she  was  not  visibly 
tliere.  Those  who  heard  the  sound  of  its  bells  would  think 
she  was  there  practising  the  dance ;  but  wlien  they  went  to 
look,  they  saw  it  moving,  but  did  not  see  her.  A  few  months 
afterward,  a  report  came  at  night  to  the  villages  that  Antyande 
was  very  much  excited  and  could  not  sleep;  that  she  had  gone 
to  her  room  for  the  ekope,  and  that  it  was  not  there.  So  she 
began  to  make  a  great  fuss,  and  begged  her  associates  to  keep 
watch  and  go  with  her  to  search  for  the  missing  ekope.  Some 
of  these  friends  were  willing ;  others  were  not,  and  these  went 
to  their  beds.  She  then  went  to  other  villages  and  told  the 
people  there:  "My  ekope  has  gone  out  on  a  promenade. 
Have  you  seen  it?"  These  people  were  among  the  chief 
dancers  of  her  band.  But  they  told  her  they  did  not  know 
where  the  ekope  was.  So  she  began  to  ejaculate  a  prayer: 
"Oh,  please,  you  went  out  for  a  walk;  come  back  to  me,  for 
if  you  do  not  return,  then  I  am  lost.  It  will  be  death  to 
me."  Just  before  daylight,  as  she  was  still  wandering 
about  with  her  friends,  and  singing  ivanga  songs  to  attract 
her  ekope,  suddenly  she  and  two  of  her  friends  heard  the 
tinkling  of  the  bells  among  the  bushes  lining  a  certain  road 
which  passes  by  a  Roman  Catholic  chapel.  They  all  went  in 
the  direction  of  the  sound  of  the  bells,  and  entering  a  cluster 
of  the  bushes,  they  saw  the  ekope  moving  to  and  fro. 
She  was  so  glad  to  see  it,  and  she  bade  one  of  her  com- 
panions to  go  and  get  it.  But  the  woman  was  afraid,  and 
refused,  saying,  "Me!     Oh,  no!     Go  and  get  it  yourself!" 


298  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

So  she  went  to  it,  singing  her  ivanga  song,  seized  it,  and 
brought  it  to  her  house. 

As  she  is  noted  for  her  grace  and  skill  in  that  particular 
dance,  another  woman,  by  name  Ekamina,  asked  her  to  give 
her  power  such  as  hers,  as  she  also  wished  to  be  leader  of 
another  band  of  ivanga  dancers.  Antyande  assented,  say- 
ino-,  "Well,  do  you  want  spirits  with  it?"  The  other 
replied,  "Yes,  I  want  two."  So  the  two  women,  with  a 
young  man  to  escort  them,  went  at  night  to  the  graves  and 
obtained  the  two  desired  spirits.  It  is  these  which  give  them 
spirit  power.  When  under  their  influence,  their  bodies  are 
thrilled  with  a  new  essence  which  makes  them  very  light 
and  causes  them  to  act  and  speak  as  if  insane.  The  two 
women  came  back  to  Antyande 's  village,  and  she  performed 
all  the  magic  ceremonies  that  Ekamina  wanted. 

Some  time  after  this,  when  Ekamina  had  practised  much 
and  had  danced  publicly  several  times,  people  began  to  say 
to  her  that  she  danced  very  well,  and  soon  she  was  invited 
to  give  exhibitions  in  various  places. 

One  day  it  happened  that  the  two  women  had  arranged 
to  dance  on  the  same  night,  each  with  her  own  party,  at 
villages  quite  distant  from  each  other.  Antyande  asked 
Ekamina  to  give  up  her  play  for  that  night  and  join  with 
her,  "for,"  said  she,  "I  want  to  make  mine  grand;  and  you 
wait  for  yours  another  day."  But  Ekamina  was  not  willing. 
Antyande  tried  to  get  her  to  change  her  mind,  and  was  very 
much  displeased  because  she  refused.  Ekamina  said,  "  I  will 
not  give  up,  for  my  dance  is  by  special  invitation  at  An- 
wondo  village,  so  I  have  to  go."  (Libreville  is  three  miles 
long;  one  end  is  called  "Glass,"  and  Auwondo  is  at  the 
other  end.)  Ekamina  lived  at  Glass,  and  on  her  way  to 
Anwondo  she  had  to  pass  the  village  of  Antyande.  The 
latter  said  to  herself,  "As  Ekamina  is  not  willing  to  do  as 
I  wish,  and  I  was  the  one  who  gave  her  this  power,  I  will 
watch  her  as  she  passes,  and  see  what  I  will  do."  So,  when 
Ekamina  passed  at  night  with  her  party  to  Anwondo,  Anty- 
ande watched  her  chance  as  Ekamina  neared  her.     She  went 


TALES  OF  FETICH  BASED  ON  FACT   299 

behind  her,  and  did  some  magic  act  which  wouhl  make  the 
latter  powerless  to  dance  and  not  be  aware  of  her  loss  of 
power.  When  Ekamina  reached  Auwondo  and  commenced 
her  play,  she  was  not  able  to  dance  at  all.  She  tried  till 
midnight,  and  failed.  She  suspected  that  Antyande  was  the 
cause  of  the  failure,  for  the  latter  had  not  been  friendly  since 
their  unsatisfactory  talk.  So  she  took  a  portion  of  her  party 
that  same  night  back  to  Antyande's  village,  told  the  lat- 
ter her  trouble,  and  begged  her,  "  Please,  if  you  have  taken 
away  the  power,  give  it  back,  so  I  may  finish  the  dance  to- 
night." Antyande  said,  "No;  you  would  not  listen  to  me. 
I  am  a  chief  dancer,  and  you  are  praised  as  the  same.  Go 
and  dance !  "  Ekamina  said,  "  But  please  give  me  back  the 
power;  I  am  not  able  to  dance  without  it."  Antyande  re- 
plied, "No,  go  to  the  graveyard  and  get  other  spirits  there 
for  yourself."  So  there  was  no  dance  done  by  Ekamina  that 
night. 

VIII.   AsiKi,  OR  THE  Little  Beings. 

People  believe  that  Asiki  (singular  "  Isiki ")  were  once 
human  beings,  but  that  wicked  men,  wizards  and  witches, 
or  other  persons  who  assert  that  they  have  memba  (witchcraft 
powers),  caught  them  when  they  were  children  and  could 
not  defend  themselves,  nor  could  their  cries  for  help  be 
heard  when  playing  among  the  bushes  on  the  edge  of  the 
forest.  These  wicked  persons  cut  off  the  ends  of  the  chil- 
dren's tongues,  so  that  they  can  never  again  speak  or  inform 
on  their  captors.  They  carry  them  away,  and  hide  them  in 
a  secret  place  where  they  cannot  be  found.  There  they  are 
subjected  to  a  variety  of  witchcraft  treatment  that  alters 
their  natures  so  that  they  are  no  longer  mortal.  This  treat- 
ment checks  their  entire  physical,  mental,  and  moral  growth. 
They  cease  to  remember  or  care  for  their  former  homes  or 
their  human  relatives,  and  they  accept  all  the  witchcraft  of 
their  captors.  Even  the  hair  of  their  head  changes,  grow- 
ing in  long,  straight  black  tresses  down  their  backs.  They 
wear  a  curious  comb-shaped  ornament  on  the  back  of  their 


300  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

head.  It  is  not  stiff  or  capable  of  being  used  as  a  comb,  and 
is  made  of  some  twisted  fibre  resembling  hair.  The  Asiki 
value  it  almost  as  a  part  of  their  life. 

These  Asiki  will  sometimes  be  seen  walking  in  paths  on 
dark  nights,  and  people  meet  them  coming  toward  them.  It 
is  believed  that  in  their  meeting,  if  a  person  is  fearless  by 
natural  bravery,  or  by  fetich  power  as  a  wizard  or  witch, 
and  dares  to  seize  the  Isiki  and  snatch  away  the  "comb,"  the 
possession  of  this  ornament  will  bring  him  riches.  But  who- 
ever succeeds  in  obtaining  that  "  comb  "  will  not  be  allowed 
to  remain  in  peaceful  possession  of  it.  The  poor  Isiki  will 
be  seen  at  night  wandering  about  the  spot  where  its  treasure 
was  lost,  trying  to  obtain  it  again. 

It  happened  in  the  year  1901  that  there  was  a  report,  even 
in  civilized  Gabun,  about  these  Asiki, —  that  two  of  them 
were  seen  near  a  certain  place  on  the  public  road  at  that  part 
of  the  town  of  Libreville  known  as  the  "Plateau,"  where 
live  most  of  the  French  tradei'S  and  government  officers.  A 
certain  Frenchman,  who  is  known  as  a  freemason,  in  re- 
turning from  his  8  P.  M.  dinner  at  his  boarding-house  to  his 
dwelling-place,  observed  that  a  small  figure  was  walking  on 
one  side  of  the  road,  keeping  pace  with  him.  He  accosted 
it,  "Who  are  you?"  There  was  no  answer;  only  the  figure 
kept  on  walking,  advancing  and  retreating  before  him. 

Also,  a  few  nights  later,  a  Negro  clerk  of  a  white  trader 
met  this  small  being  on  that  very  road,  and  near  the  spot 
where  the  Frenchman  had  met  it,  and  it  began  to  chase  the 
Negro.  He  ran,  and  came  frightened  to  his  employer's  office, 
and  told  him  what  had  happened.  His  employer  did  not 
believe  him,  laughed  at  his  fears,  and  told  him  he  was  not 
telling  the  truth.  The  very  next  night  the  Frenchman,  the 
trader,  and  other  white  men  and  Negro  women  were  sit- 
ting in  conversation.  The  trader  told  the  story  of  his  clerk, 
whereupon  the  Frenchman  said,  "Your  clerk  did  not  lie;  he 
told  the  truth.  I  have  myself  met  that  small  being  two  or 
three  times,  but  I  made  no  effort  to  catch  it."  The  women 
told  him  of  the  comb-ornament  which  Asiki  were  believed  to 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      301 

wear,  and  of  the  pride  with  which  Asiki  regarded  it,  and  the 
value  it  woukl  be  to  any  one  who  could  obtain  it.  Then  the 
Frenchman  replied,  "  As  the  little  being  is  so  small,  the  very- 
next  time  I  see  it  I  will  try  to  catch  it  and  bring  it  here, 
so  that  you  can  see  it  and  know  that  this  story  is  actually 
true." 

On  a  subsequent  night  they  two  —  the  Frenchman  and  the 
trader  —  went  out  to  see  whether  they  could  meet  the  Isiki. 
They  did  not  meet  with  it  that  night;  but  a  few  evenings 
later  the  Frenchman  went  alone,  and  met  the  Isiki  near  the 
phice  where  it  had  first  been  seen.  The  Frenchman  ran 
toward  it  and  tried  to  catch  it;  but  it  being  very  agile 
eluded  his  grasp.  But,  though  he  failed  to  seize  its  body, 
he  succeeded  in  catching  hold  of  its  "comb,"  and  snatched  it 
away,  and  ran  rapidly  with  it  toward  his  house.  It  did  not 
consist  of  any  hard  material  as  a  real  comb,  but  was  made  of 
strands  resembling  the  Isiki's  hair,  and  braided  into  a  comb- 
like shape.  The  little  being  was  displeased,  and  ran  after 
him  in  order  to  recover  the  ornament.  Having  no  tongue,  it 
could  not  speak,  but  holding  out  one  hand  pleadingly  and 
with  the  other  motioning  to  the  back  of  its  head,  it  made 
pathetic  sounds  in  its  throat,  thus  inarticulately  begging  that 
its  treasure  should  be  given  back  to  it.  On  nearing  the  light 
of  the  Frenchman's  house  it  retreated,  and  he  showed  the 
ornament  to  other  white  men  and  some  native  women.  (So 
positive  was  my  informant  that  the  names  of  these  men  and 
women  were  mentioned  to  me.)  He  said  to  the  trader,  "You 
doubted  your  clerk's  story.  Have  you  ever  seen  anything 
like  this  in  all  your  life?  "  They  all  said  they  had  not.  It 
was  reported  that  many  other  persons  hearing  of  it  went  there 
to  see  it. 

From  that  night  the  little  being  was  often  seen  by  other 
Negroes.  It  was  always  holding  out  its  hand,  and  seem- 
ingly pleading  for  the  return  of  its  "comb."  This  made  the 
Negroes  afraid  to  pass  on  that  road  at  night.  The  French- 
man also  often  met  it;  it  did  not  chase  him,  but  followed 
slowly,  pleading  with  its  hands  in  dumb  show,  and  occasion- 


302  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

ally  making  a  grunting  sound  in  its  throat.  This  it  did  so 
persistently  and  annoyingly  that  the  Frenchman  was  wearied 
with  its  begging,  and  determined  that  the  next  night  he  would 
yield  up  the  "comb."  But  he  went  prepared  with  scissors. 
He  found  the  little  being  following  him.  He  stopped,  and  it 
approached.  He  held  out  his  hand  with  the  ornament.  As 
the  Isiki  jumped  forward  to  snatch  at  it,  the  Frenchman  tried 
to  lay  hold  of  its  body;  but  it  was  so  very  agile  that,  though 
it  had  come  so  near  as  to  be  able  to  take  the  comb  from  the 
Frenchman's  hand,  it  so  quickly  twisted  itself  aside  as  to 
elude  his  grasp.  He  however  succeeded  in  getting  his  hands 
in  its  long  hair,  and  snipped  off  a  lock  with  his  scissors.  The 
Isiki  ran  away  with  its  recovered  treasure,  and  did  not  seem 
to  resent  the  loss  of  a  portion  of  its  hair.  This  hair  the 
Frenchman  is  said  to  have  shown  to  his  companions  at  their 
next  evening  conversation,  and  I  was  given  to  understand 
that  he  had  sent  it  to  France.  It  was  straight,  not  woolly, 
and  long. 

These  Asiki  are  supposed  not  to  die,  and  it  is  also  believed 
that  they  can  propagate;  but  so  complete  has  been  the  par- 
ent's change  under  witchcraft  power  that  the  Isiki  babe  will 
be  only  an  Isiki  and  cannot  grow  up  to  be  a  human  being. 

It  is  asserted  that  Asiki  are  now  made  by  a  sort  of  creative 
power  (just  as  leopards  and  bush -cats  are  claimed  to  be  made, 
and  used  invisibly)  by  witch  doctors. 

I  am  only  writing  these  tales,  I  am  not  explaining  them. 
Some  of  the  statements  in  the  above  story  are  too  circumstan- 
tial to  be  denied.  But  there  is  a  wide  margin  for  uncertainty 
as  to  what  one  might  see  after  the  conviviality  of  an  8  P.m. 
West  African  dinner.  In  my  sudden  leaving  of  Gabun  in 
June,  1903,  I  had  not  time  to  interrogate  the  men  and  women 
named  as  having  seen  the  Isiki's  tress  of  hair. 

IX.    Okove. 

(The  incidents  of  this  story  reall}"  occurred,  and  indepen- 
dent of  the  fetich  belief  in  okove  power,  are  true.     At  the 


TALES    OF   FETICH   BASED    ON   FACT       303 

request  of  my  native  informant  the  names  of  the  two  tribes 
are  suppressed,  for  the  sake  of  the  living  descendants  of  the 
two  kings.) 

There  was  an  okl  king  of  one  of  tlie  principal  tribes  of 
West  Equatorial  Africa  who  had  great  power  and  was  held 
in  great  respect  and  fear  ;  there  was  none  other  his  equal. 

He  had  brothers  and  cousins.  One  of  these  cousins  liad  a 
servant,  a  slave,  wlio  had  been  bought  from  an  interior  tribe. 
It  happened  that  this  man  had  not  always  been  a  slave,  but 
in  the  tribe  from  which  he  had  been  sold  he  was  a  freeman. 
The  charge  on  which  he  had  been  sold  by  his  own  tribe  was 
that  of  sorcery  and  witchcraft  murder,  the  death  penalty  for 
which  had  been  commuted  to  sale  into  slavery.  He  was 
deeply  versed  in  a  mystery  of  a  certain  fetich  or  magic  power 
called  "  Okove."  He  possessed  it  so  powerfully  that  no  one 
was  able  to  overcome  him  in  contests  of  strength,  and  people 
were  greatly  afraid  of  him. 

So  his  owners  intended  to  get  rid  of  him  hy  selling  him 
out  of  the  country.  To  do  this,  they  planned  to  catch  him 
in  the  daytime  ;  for  he  exercised  his  okove  power  chiefly  at 
night,  when  he  could  change  himself  into  a  powerful  being 
ready  to  overcome  any  one  who  should  resist  him. 

One  night  when  this  great  king,  who  also  possessed  the 
okove  power  (though  it  was  not  generally  known),  went  out 
to  inspect,  he  saw  a  big  tall  man  walking  up  and  down  near 
his  premises.  The  king  said  to  him,  "  Ho  !  who  are  you  ?  " 
The  man  answered,  "  It  is  I."  The  king  asked,  "  Who  is  I  ?  " 
The  man  replied  daringly,  "  I  have  already  told  you  that  I  am 
I."  So  the  king  asked  again,  "Who  are  you?  Where  did 
you  come  from?  And  what  are  you  doing  here?"  The  man 
said,  "  I  go  everywliere,  and  do  wdiat  I  please  at  other  people's 
places,  and  so  I  have  come  here."  The  king  commanded 
him,  "  But,  no,  not  at  this  place.  This  is  mine.  Go  back 
to  your  own  !  " 

The  slave  gave  answer,  "  No !  that  is  not  my  habit.  No 
one  can  master  me  !  " 


304  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

The  king  again  ordered  him,  "Go!"  He  flatly  refused, 
"  No  !  "  The  king  then  said  plainly,  "  Are  you  not  willing  to 
leave  my  premises  ?  " 

He  rephed, "  No,  I  never  turn  away  from  any  one.  I  go  away 
when  I  please.  When  I  am  ready,  I  will  go  back  to  my 
place."  At  this  the  king,  restraining  himself,  slowly  said, 
"  Be  it  so  ! "  and  turned  away,  leaving  the  slave  standing 
in  his  yard. 

The  next  day  the  king  sent  word  for  liis  cousin  the  owner 
of  the  slave  to  come;  to  whom,  when  he  had  arrived  at  the 
house,  the  king  told  how  he  had  seen  the  man  at  night.  And 
he  inquired,  "What  does  he  do?  Why  does  he  leave  his 
place  on  the  plantation  and  come  to  my  place  at  night?  "  The 
cousin  was  surprised  to  hear  this,  exclaiming,  "  So !  indeed ! 
he  comes  here  at  night  ?  "  Then  he  went  back  to  his  house, 
and  caUing  the  slave,  asked  him  about  this  matter.  "  Do  you 
go  around  at  night,  even  to  the  king's  place?"  The  man 
said,  "  Yes."  His  mastei-  said,  "  Why  do  you  do  that  ?  Do 
you  hear  of  other  lower-caste  people  daring  to  go  to  the  king's 
at  night?"  He  answered,  "No;  but  it  is  I  who  do  as  I 
please."  His  master  told  him,  "No;  you  better  return  to 
the  plantation,  and  live  among  the  other  slaves."  He  replied 
"  I  will  go,  but  not  now."  His  master  asked  him,  "  But  what 
are  you  waiting  for  ?  "  He  only  repeated,  "  Yes  ;  but  not 
now." 

The  very  next  night,  on  the  king's  going  out  as  usual, 
he  found  this  slave  again  at  his  place,  and  said  to  him,  "  So ! 
you  here  again  ?"  The  man  replied,  "Yes  ;  just  what  I  told 
you  last  night,  that  I  do  what  I  please,  and  I  can  master  any- 
body." Then  the  king  said,  "  I  warn  you  plainly,  clear  off 
from  my  place  ! "  He  replied,  "  No,  I  do  not  intend  to  clear 
out ;  but  I  am  ready  for  a  fight." 

The  king  asked,  "  You  really  want  a  fight  with  me  ?  "  The 
man  answered,"  Yes,  I  am  ready  for  it."  Said  the  king,  "It 
is  well." 

The  fight  began,  each  with  his  full  okove  power.  In 
such  contests,  the  power  is  able  to  change  the  contestants' 


TALES   OF  FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      305 

bodies  to  many  forms,  Tlie  slave  was  quick  in  his  use  of 
tliem.  His  Hrst  change  was  to  the  form  of  a  big  gorilla. 
This  also  the  king  met.  As  the  fight  went  on,  the  next 
form  was  into  that  of  leopards.  The  fight  went  on,  witii 
frequent  changes ;  the  slave  always  being  the  first  to  change. 
After  a  while  the  slave  seemed  to  be  growing  tired,  and  the 
king  asked  liim,  "Are  you  through?"  He  answered,  "No, 
only  resting,"  Again  the  fight  was  resumed.  Finally,  the 
slave  took  an  eagle's  form  ;  the  king  did  the  same. 

Presently  the  slave  seemed  to  hesitate,  and  the  king  said, 
"  You  said  you  wanted  a  fight.  Well,  let  us  go  on  with  it." 
They  continued ;  but  the  slave  seemed  to  be  exhausted,  and 
the  king  said,  "  Now,  are  you  willing  to  leave  the  place  ?  " 
He  answered,  "  No ;  my  fatigue  is  not  yet  so  great  as  to  make 
me  leave  your  place."  The  king  liad  held  his  power  in  re- 
serve, and  had  been  tolerant  of  the  man's  audacity ;  but  he 
now  resumed  his  human  form,  took  his  gun  (the  slave  had 
none),  and  aiming  it,  off  it  went,  and  wounded  him.  Being 
wounded,  the  slave  had  to  acknowledge  that  he  was  overcome, 
and  he  had  to  go.  When  morning  came,  the  slave  was  not 
able  to  get  up  to  go  about  his  work,  and  remained  in  bed. 
The  gun-shot  wound  was  a  small  one,  and  he  was  conscious 
that  he  was  dying  of  some  other  cause.  He  sent  some  one  to 
the  master's  house  to  ask  him  to  come.  When  his  master 
came,  he  said,  "  Ah  !  master!  I  have  something  to  say  to  you. 
Please  plead  for  me  !"  The  master  said,  "  Plead  for  you! 
For  what?"  The  slave  then  told  him,  "  I  went  around  last 
night  to  the  king's  place.  He  told  me  to  leave,  and  T  was 
not  willing  to  do  so.  So  we  had  a  great  fight.  And  I  am 
conquered.  But  please  plead  for  me,  that  he  may  make  me 
well." 

The  master  replied,  "  Did  I  not  advise  you  not  to  go  there, 
but  rather  to  stay  at  your  plantation? "  He  assented.  "  But 
please  plead,  and  I  will  stay  at  the  plantation." 

The  master  answered,  "  I  do  not  think  the  king  will  be 
willing  to  help  you."  Nevertheless,  being  a  cousin,  he  went 
privately  to  the  king,  and  told  him  all  that  the  slave  had  told 

20 


306  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

him.  The  king  refused,  saying,  "  No,  I  am  not  going  to  do 
anything  for  him.  He  must  die."  The  next  day  the  slave 
was  dead. 

(Another  illustration  of  that  king's  okove  power  was 
narrated  to  me.) 

There  had  been  ill-feeling  between  this  king's  tribe  and 
an  adjacent  inferior  tribe  who  had  killed  two  of  the  king's 
chief  men  without  cause,  coming  suddenly  upon  them  at  night 
in  their  fishing-camp.  The  king's  people  were  very  much 
troubled  about  it,  and  asked  to  be  led  to  war.  But  the  old 
king  said,  "  You  young  people  don't  know  anything.  If  you 
go  to  war,  there  will  be  much  blood  shed  on  both  sides. 
Leave  the  matter  with  me.     I  will  attend  to  it  myself." 

So  at  night  he  went  by  himself  to  the  town  of  the  king  of 
the  offending  tribe,  and  remained  there  waiting  in  ambush  on 
the  path.  Early  next  morning  four  of  the  women  belonging 
to  that  town  had  gone  to  their  gardens  with  their  baskets  to 
get  food.  The  old  king  followed  them  secretly.  After  all 
of  them  had  filled  their  baskets,  two  lifted  them  upon  their 
backs  and  started  to  return  to  their  town.  The  other  two 
were  just  stooping  (as  is  the  custom  in  lifting  burdens, 
leaning  forward  on  one  knee  in  order  to  place  their  backs 
against  the  basket,  with  a  strap  passing  around  the  basket 
and  over  their  foreheads),  when  the  king  came  behind  them 
and  struck  their  necks  with  his  okove.  They  instantly  died 
in  that  stooping  position. 

The  two  women  who  had  gone  on  ahead  reached  their  town 
without  knowing  what  had  happened  to  the  other  two.  They 
waited  in  town  a  long  time  for  the  two  absent  ones  to  come. 
But  when  they  did  not  make  their  appearance,  the  people 
began  to  ask  those  women  about  the  other  two.  They  said 
they  knew  nothing  about  the  delay,  only  that  they  had  left 
them  ready  to  come  and  preparing  to  lift  their  baskets.  The 
townspeople,  anxious  because  it  was  late  in  the  day,  went 
out  to  search  for  the  women.  They  found  them  on  the  path, 
dead  by  their  baskets.     They  examined  their  bodies  for  some 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      307 

mark  or  wound  or  sign  of  a  blow,  'i'horo  was  none.  This 
very  nmcli  perplexed  tlieni,  for  tliey  did  not  suspect  the  cause 
of  their  death,  'i'hey  carried  the  dead  bodies  to  town.  The 
next  night  the  king  went  again  to  that  same  town,  and  he 
happened  to  meet  the  other  king  at  the  boat-landing  of  the 
town.  So  the  old  king  made  complaint  to  the  other  why  the 
servants  of  the  latter  had  killed  his  two  chiefs.  The  other  made 
no  reply,  having  no  justification  of  what  his  people  had  done. 

Then  tlie  old  king  said,  "  As  your  people  have  done  this, 
thei-e  is  war  between  us  "  ;  and  he  struck  him  with  his  okove. 
And  he  added,  "  Do  you  know  that  I  have  already  begun  war 
with  your  people  ?  Did  you  not  fmd  two  of  your  women  dead 
yesterday  at  your  gardens?  I  killed  them.  But  I  am  not 
through  with  you.  I  want  you  to  pay  a  fine,  and  I  want  the 
man  who  killed  my  two  chiefs,  for  the  lives  of  the  two  women 
are  not  equivalent  to  those  of  my  two  chiefs." 

The  other  king  felt  he  was  conquered  by  some  unseen  power, 
and  did  not  resist.  He  agreed  to  give  up  the  murderer  and 
pay  a  fine.  The  next  day  lie  had  the  murderer  caught  and 
brought  before  a  council.  He  told  them  that  the  old  king  of 
the  other  tribe  wanted  the  life  of  that  man  and  a  sum  of 
money  for  the  lives  of  his  two  chiefs. 

They  began  to  collect  on  the  spot  goods  and  food  of  all 
kinds,  and  many  things  of  little  value,  with  which  to  make 
simply  the  appearance  of  a  full  canoe.  They  tied  the  pris- 
oner, put  him  in  the  canoe,  and  went  with  him  and  the 
goods  to  the  old  king.     He  received  them. 

But  at  night  he  went  again  to  the  other  king,  and  began  to 
rebuke  him,  saying  that  what  he  had  sent  was  not  sufficient. 
The  other  made  a  protest :  "  I  have  given  you  enough,  —  the 
lives  of  the  two  women,  the  one  man,  and  goods  equivalent 
to  two  more  lives.     I  have  thus  given  you  five  for  your  tAvo." 

But  the  old  king,  in  tribal  pride,  reckoned  the  sex  and  so- 
cial position  of  his  two  men  greater  than  any  five  of  an  inferior 
tribe,  and  said,  '^  How  dare  you  speak  to  me  like  that  ?  You 
shall  surely  die  !  "  He  struck  him  with  his  okove,  and  went 
away. 


308  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

The  next  day  the  other  king  was  not  able  to  leave  his  bed 
and  sent  for  many  of  his  people  to  come,  saying  that  he  had  a 
special  word  to  speak  to  them.  They  came,  and  he  told  them 
all  about  the  death  of  the  two  women,  and  all  that  had 
occurred  between  him  and  the  old  king.  "And  now,"  he 
said,  "  I  am  dying.  We  are  overcome.  It  is  useless  to  resist. 
I  want  you  to  remember,  as  long  as  the  world  stands,  never 
to  fight  or  quarrel  with  the  tribe  of  that  king." 

Then  he  turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and  died. 

X.  The  Family  Idols. 

(To  a  village  on  the  St.  Thome  or  left  bank  of  Gabun  Bay, 
or  "  River,"  away  up  a  winding  mangrove  stream,  and  on  the 
edge  of  the  forest  that  was  broken  by  pieces  of  prairie,  I  went, 
in  February,  1903,  to  visit  a  friend,  a  sick  Christian  woman, 
who  was  in  the  care  of  a  relative  of  hers  named  Adova. 

There  were  only  five  huts  in  the  village.  At  the  first  one 
from  the  edge  of  the  prairie,  which  was  assigned  to  me  in 
which  to  sleep,  on  a  bench  outside  under  the  low  eaves,  was  a 
roughly  carved  wooden  idol,  about  fourteen  inches  in  height. 
From  the  dressing  of  the  hair  of  its  head,  I  supposed  it  to  be 
intended  for  a  female.  Its  loins  were  covered  with  a  narrow 
strip  of  cloth.  Near  it  was  what  could  scarcely  be  recognized 
as  a  dog,  its  head  looking  more  like  a  pig's,  and  its  tail  more 
like  an  alligator's.  The  figures  were  chalked  and  painted; 
and  near  them  were  a  few  gourd  utensils  for  eating  and  drink- 
ing, and  some  medicinal  barks. 

Subsequently,  at  night,  in  a  curtained-off  corner  of  my 
room,  I  saw  three  low  baskets,  in  each  of  which  was  a  pair  of 
wooden  images  not  six  inches  high.  They  were  chalked,  and 
adorned  with  strips  of  various-colored  cloth.  In  each  basket 
also  was  a  wooden  hourglass-shaped  article  that  seemed  in- 
tended for  a  double  bell.  Pieces  of  medicinal  barks  filled  up 
the  spaces  in  the  baskets.  The  images  were  relics  of  ceremo- 
nies held  over  twins  born  long  ago  in  the  family. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  village,  in  a  very  small  roughly 
built  hut,  open  on  one  side,  were  two  other  idols,  —  one,  a  male. 


TALES  OF  FETICH  BASED  ON  FACT   309 

standing  and  chalked  and  painted.  The  female  in  an  or- 
namented box  was  not  visible ;  near  them  was  a  nondescript 
animal. 

The  story  of  these  idols,  as  told  me  by  my  friend  (who  has 
since  died),  is  more  especially  connected  with  this  pair.) 

Part  I.     OKASI. 

It  was  made  by  a  Loango  man,  a  fetich  doctor,  very  many 
years  ago.  The  Mpongwe  family  that  to-day  owns  these 
relics  had  sent  sonth  to  Loango,  to  the  Fiat  or  Ba-Vili  tribe, 
to  bring  to  Gabun  for  this  special  purpose  this  celebrated 
magician. 

When  he  arrived,  the  chief  of  the  family  who  had  sum- 
moned him  went  with  him  off  to  the  forest,  wdth  all  the 
medicines,  and  so  forth,  which  the  Loango  man  had  brought. 
This  occurred  on  that  same  left  side  of  the  "  river  "  where  I 
was  visiting. 

The  magician  began  to  explain  everything  in  the  way  of 
directions  about  the  medicines  that  were  to  be  put  into  the 
hollow  of  the  abdomen  of  the  idol  (and  which  to-day  is  still 
covered  by  a  small  round  mirror  fastened  over  it).  After  ex- 
plaining all  these  matters,  he  gave  also  all  the  orunda  (pro- 
hibitions), viz. :  The  idol  must  not  be  allowed  to  fall  on  its 
face ;  it  must  have  a  small  hut  for  shelter  from  rain  and 
sun :  it  must  be  given  a  light  at  night,  at  least  of  coals  of 
fire.  After  this,  he  began  to  carve  the  idol.  After  making 
the  male  of  the  pair,  and  before  making  its  female,  he  made  a 
duplicate  of  the  male,  exactly  like  it,  except  that  it  was  only 
an  imitation  without  any  magic  power  ;  and,  instead  of  med- 
icines, only  powdered  charcoal  was  put  into  the  hollow  in 
its  abdomen,  which,  however,  was  to  be  covered  with  glass, 
exactly  as  the  real  one. 

When  these  two  idols  were  finished,  the  two  men,  the  magi- 
cian and  the  chief  of  the  family,  went  with  them  far  into  the 
forest.  The  Loango  said,  "  I  will  put  these  here,  and  when 
we  go  back  to  your  town  I  will  give  the  power  of  olaga  [a 
certain  kind  of  spirit]  to  one  of  your  women.     If  she  receives 


310  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

it  properly,  she  herself,  without  knowing  our  path,  will  come 
to  this  forest,  and  will  make  no  mistake  in  choosing  the 
real  idol  from  the  imitation  ;  and  she  will  bring  it  to  me  in  the 
town."  (It  is  a  rule  with  the  native  sorcerers  that  if  the  one 
who  aspires  to  the  power  should  make  a  mistake  in  this 
choosing,  she  must  pay  a  fine  of  from  $60  to  1100.) 

When  all  was  arranged,  the  Loango  man  said,  "  Now  let  us 
go  back  to  town."  So  they  turned  back.  But  when  they 
had  gone  half  of  the  way,  he  said  to  himself,  "This  Ga- 
bun  man  now  knows  everything,  and  where  the  idols  are,  and 
which  is  the  real  one.  It  is  his  sister  who  wishes  to  receive 
the  power ;  he  will  go  and  tell  her  everything,  and  she  will 
make  no  mistake,  not  by  reason  of  her  possessing  power,  but 
by  his  private  information."  So  the  Loango  said,  "  Go  you  to 
the  town,  await  me  there  ;  I  will  come  soon."  And  he  turned 
back  into  the  forest  by  himself,  took  up  the  two  idols  from 
wliere  he  had  laid  them  down,  went  in  another  direction  and 
hid  them  there,  and  then  returned  to  town. 

He  then  gave  the  power  to  the  woman,  and  said,  "  Go 
and  bring  the  olaga."  She  started,  went  with  only  a  little 
power,  and  was  going  at  random ;  but  before  she  had  gone 
half-way,  she  came  under  the  full  power.  Then  she  turned 
her  face  right  and  left,  and  gave  an  olaga  yell,  seeking  to 
know  which  way  the  power  would  lead  her.  At  once  then 
she  knew  which  was  the  way ;  and  she  went  running  and 
shouting  frantically,  under  the  influence  of  this  power,  to  the 
precise  spot,  and  took  up  the  real  idol,  making  no  mistake 
about  the  imitation  one.  Holding  it  aloft,  she  returned,  shout- 
ing and  dancing,  under  the  Delphic  frenzy.  She  entered-  the 
town  singing  and  dancing  in  the  street,  and  then  laid  the  idol 
at  the  feet  of  the  Loango  man.  He  took  it,  and  knew  it  was 
the  right  one.  He  then  went  to  the  forest  and  brought  also 
the  other,  the  duphcate.  When  he  returned,  he  went  with 
it  and  the  real  one  to  the  ogwerina  (backyard)  to  show  to  the 
Gabun  man  the  slight  difference  in  the  two  (which  he  knew  by 
a  private  mark).  In  doing  this  he  had  to  take  off  the  little 
mirrors  and  show  the  difference  between  tlie  medicines  and 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      811 

the  charcoal.  And  he  again  closed  the  mirrors.  Then,  just 
to  test  the  woman,  the  magician  said  to  her,  "  Go  and  bring 
me  the  idol  I  have  left  in  the  ogwerina."  She  went  there, 
still  under  the  power,  and  with  a  frenzied  scream  seized  the 
riglit  one  and  brought  it  to  him.  He  was  half  glad  and 
half  disappointed;  for  had  she  mistaken,  lie  would  have 
received  more  money. 

Then  the  townspeople  held  a  great  dance,  and  the  Loango 
taught  them  special  songs  for  the  olaga.  The  female  of  the 
pair  of  idols  had  also  been  made  about  tlie  same  time  as  the 
male,  but  with  no  special  ceremony. 

All  being  finished,  the  magician  named  his  fee  for  his  ser- 
vices, was  paid,  and  went  back  to  Loango. 

This  idol  was  intended  as  a  family  fetich,  to  protect  the 
family  at  niglit,  and  to  kill  any  one  who  would  attempt  to  in- 
jure any  of  the  members.  The  name  of  this  male  of  the  pair 
\\as  Okasi. 

The  name  of  the  other  one,  that  was  under  the  eaves  of  the 
hut  in  wliich  I  slept,  was  Kaka-gi-bala-d}'ambo-gi-bala-ve. 
These  are  Shekyani  words,  n.nd  mean  "  A-great-log-may-rot- 
but-a-spoken-word-dies-never."  That  meant  that  if  an  enemy 
came  and  injured  any  one  in  the  town,  the  wrong  would  never 
be  forgotten  and  would  surely  be  avenged.  That  idol  might 
almost  stand  for  a  statue  of  Vengeance. 

The  above  proverb  comes  from  a  tale  of  a  cruel  old  Shekyani 
chief. 

Part  II.     BARBARITY. 

Once  there  was  a  very  powerful  Shekyani  chief  named 
Ogwedembe,  He  had  many  sons  and  daughters  and  slaves 
and  slave  children  and  nieces  and  nephews.  He  had  also 
a  brother.     His  principal  delight  was  in  fighting  and  killing. 

Ogwedembe  used  to  go  out  on  excursions,  and  would  say  to 
his  company,  "  Now  we  are  out  of  town."  That  meant  that 
all  restraint  was  cast  aside,  and  that  he  was  ready  to  kill  the 
first  person  they  might  meet,  even  without  a  cause. 

One  day  when  they  were  out  and  were  passing  through  a 
thick  forest,   they  saw  a  man  up  a  tree   who  liad  come  for 


312  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

palm-wine  and  had  filled  two  of  the  gourd-bottles  used  for 
that  purpose.  So  Ogwedembe  shouted  to  him,  "  Indeed !  what 
are  you  doing  there  ?  Have  you  not  heard  that  Ogwedembe 
and  his  brother  are  out  of  town  ?  Come  down  quickly  and 
meet  us  here  !  " 

The  man  did  not  dare  disobey,  and  came  down.  Ogwe- 
dembe took  the  gourds,  and  said,  "  You  may  have  one  ;  I  and 
my  brother  will  drink  the  other."  After  the  drinking,  Ogwe- 
dembe stripped  the  man  of  his  clothing,  leaving  him  standing 
naked  and  trembling.  In  his  terror  the  man  did  not  attempt 
to  escape. 

Ogwedembe  drew  his  knife,  and  repeated  his  questions, 
"Who  told  you  to  come  here?  Did  you  not  know  that 
Ogwedembe  and  his  brother  were  out  in  the  forest?  Now  I 
will  fix  you ;  and  you  can  carry  the  news  to  your  town  that 
Ogwedembe  and  his  brother  are  in  the  forest." 

He  then  seized  a  portion  of  the  man's  body,  and  with  his 
butcher-knife  horribly  mutilated  him.  The  man  started, 
bleeding,  to  go  to  his  town,  and  died  on  the  way. 

The  section  of  country  in  which  Ogwedembe's  portion  of 
the  Shekyani  tribe  lived  was  south  of  Gabun,  toward  the 
Orungu  people  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nazareth  branch  of  the 
Ogowe  River.  Sometimes  he  and  his  brother  would  travel 
in  their  war  canoes  all  the  way  from  their  place,  and,  passing 
Gabun,  would  go  on  northward  to  attack  the  Benga  of  Cape 
Esterias  without  cause  and  in  sheer  ruthlessness. 

Some  of  his  daughters  and  sisters  were  married  to  Mpongwe 
chiefs  at  Gabun.  At  times  his  daughters  and  nieces  would 
go  and  visit  him.  They  would  be  received  with  firing  of 
guns  and  other  great  demonstrations,  and  on  leaving  would 
be  laden  with  presents. 

About  twenty  years  ago  one  of  his  sisters,  named  Akanda, 
died  in  the  prime  of  life.  She  lived  at  Gabun,  her  husband 
a  Mpongwe.  (She  was  the  mother  of  Adova,  my  hostess, 
who  is  apparently  about  sixty  years  of  age,  and  has  a  younger 
brother  apparently  about  thirty  years  of  age.)  So,  when  that 
sister  died,  Ogwedembe  came  to  Gabun,  on  the  St.  Thome 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED    ON   FACT      313 

side,  to  the  funeral.  My  sick  friend  happened  to  be  there  at 
the  time  (for,  by  family  marriage,  she  is  a  cousin  to  Adova) 
and  saw  the  old  chief. 

Ogwedembe,  according  to  native  custom,  demanded  of  the 
husband  a  fine  for  his  sister's  death  (as  if  due  to  lack  of 
proper  care  of  her).  When  that  was  paid,  as  a  sign  that 
no  ill-will  was  retained,  Ogwedembe  was  to  give  the  widower 
another  wife. 

During  this  discussion  Ogwedembe  kept  saying,  "I  wish 
my  sister  had  not  been  married  to  a  Mpongwe,  for  it  is  not 
your  custom  to  shed  blood  for  this  cause.  But  I  feel  a 
great  desire  to  kill  some  one.  If  this  had  been  a  Shekyani 
marriage,  I  would  have  gone  from  town  to  town  killing  as  I 
chose."  The  Mpongwe  replied,  "But  we  have  no  such  cus- 
tom." He  answered,  "Yes,  I  know  that.  I  only  said  what 
I  would  like  to  do,  though  your  tribal  custom  will  not  allow 
me  to  do  it." 

His  demand  of  a  fine  being  finally  yielded  to  and  paid, 
to  show  his  peaceful  intentions,  he  gave  the  husband  one 
of  his  daughters,  a  widow  who  had  with  her  two  children, 
—  a  son  and  a  daughter,  —  and  who  afterward  bore  him 
other  children. 

Ogwedembe's  bloody  instincts  were  suppressed  at  that 
funeral,  and  he  remained  awhile  after  the  close  of  the 
mourning  ceremonies,  making  friendly  visits  among  his 
Mpongwe  sons-in-law,  and  then  went  back  to  his  Shekyani 
country. 

A  short  time  after  that  the  eldest  daughter  of  that  woman 
Akanda  (my  hostess  Adova)  and  her  husband  Owondo  visited 
Ogwedembe.  He  made  a  great  welcome  for  them,  with  danc- 
ing and  rejoicing  of  various  kinds.  Every  day  he  sent  his 
people  to  fish  and  hunt,  to  obtain  food  for  Adova  and  the 
children  she  had  with  her. 

Before  Adova  left,  Ogwedembe  called  his  principal  wife 
and  his  grandchikben,  and  said,  "  When  I  die,  you  who  are 
here  in  Shekyani,  do  not  remain  here,  but  go  to  Gabun  and 
live  with  Akauda's  children  all  the  rest  of  your  life."    When 


314  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

he  finally  died,  they  obeyed  and  came  to  St.  Thomfe,  of  Gabun, 
bringing  their  idols  with  them. 

The  one  female  image  that  was  under  the  eaves  of  the  house 
in  which  I  slept  was  for  guarding  their  families ;  but  the  three 
sets  of  twins  were  to  prevent  their  mothers  from  becoming 
barren. 

Part   III.    THE    RIGHT   OF   SANCTUARY. 
(It  was  an  ancient  and  universal  custom  that  a  refugee,  by 
clasping  the  knees  of  the  king  of  any  other  tribe,  could  claim 
his  protection.      The  king  was  bound  to  accept  the  claim. 
The  obligation  he  thas  assumed  was  sacred.) 

While  Adova  was  there  at  Shekyani  country,  visiting 
Ogwedembe,  there  came  to  him  an  Orungu  man  with  a  little 
slave  boy,  carrying  a  box.  As  soon  as  they  entered  the  town, 
both  of  them  came  to  Ogwedembe,  and  kneeling  and  clasping 
his  feet,  claimed  his  protection,  and  promised  voluntarily  to 
be  under  his  authority. 

The  old  chief,  without  asking  the  cause  of  their  flight  or 
their  reason  for  coming  to  him,  assented,  and  summoned  the 
town  to  make  the  Ukuku  (Spirit-Society  of  Law)  ceremony 
of  installing  the  man  and  his  slave  boy  as  members  of  their 
Shekyani  tribe. 

Adova  and  her  husband  were  very  kind  to  this  adopted 
"brother,"  and  he  at  once  became  exceedingly  intimate 
with  them. 

At  night  this  new  man  had  been  assigned  to  the  house 
occupied  by  Ogwedembe,  in  a  room  near  him,  so  that  he 
could  watch  him  that  he  should  not  run  away,  now  that-  he 
belonged  to  Ukuku.  But  it  was  not  known  that  this  man 
possessed  all  the  power  of  nyemba  (sorcery).  Ogwedembe 
also  had  power  for  fighting,  and  a  certain  amount  of  knowl- 
edge that  warned  him  not  to  be  deceived  by  sorcerers. 

After  two  days,  on  the  third  night,  this  man  rose,  and  tried 
to  go  to  Ogwedembe's  room,  to  put  some  witchcraft  medicine 
on  him.  But  Ogwedembe  saw  him  coming,  rose,  seized  his 
staff,  walked  toward  the  man  in  the  darkness,  and  struck  him 


TALES  OF  FETICH  BASED  ON  FACT   315 

violently  on  the  head.  The  man  fell.  But  neither  of  them 
uttered  any  word,  nor  made  any  outcry. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  Ogwederahe  got  uj),  went  out, 
and  sat  on  the  veranda  of  his  house.  He  called  to  Adova, 
"Come,  I  want  to  tell  you  something."  She  came,  and  he 
said,  "  I  had  a  bad  dream  last  night.  H  any  one  comes  to 
you  to-day  to  ask  you  to  make  medicine  for  a  sore  head, 
do  not  do  it."  "Who  is  it?"  she  asked.  He  refused. 
"No,  I  will  not  tell  you.  But  I  know  that  before  to-day  is 
over  some  one  will  come  to  you,  but  do  not  help  him." 

The  Orungu  got  up  late  that  day  and  looked  and  felt  dull. 
When  he  left  his  room,  he  sent  his  boy  to  call  Adova.  The 
boy  went.  She  came  to  him.  He  said,  "Can't  you  find 
medicine  for  a  headache?  I  did  not  sleep  well.  iNIy  head 
pains  too  much."  She  said,  "I  do  not  know  a  medicine  for 
that  kind  of  headache."  The  old  chief  was  sitting  near,  and, 
looking  significantly  at  the  Orungu,  said  to  Adova,  "Yes, 
that  is  right." 

The  next  night  the  man  said,  "I  do  not  wish  to  sleep  here 
to-night.  I  will  go  to  an  adjacent  village,  and  will  be  back 
in  the  morning."  "Well,  go,"  assented  Ogwedembe,  "but 
be  sure  to  be  back  in  the  morning."  And  the  man  said, 
"Yes." 

Scarcely  had  he  left  the  town  to  go  to  the  other  village, 
when  there  came  to  Ogwedembe  three  people  from  a  certain 
Orungu  town  carrying  a  message  from  their  Orungu  chief, 
thus:  "The  chief  sent  us,  saying,  'Please  give  up  this  man 
who  came  to  you  and  who  claimed  your  protection.  Give 
up  the  man.  You  do  not  know  his  habits ;  they  are  the 
habits  of  a  worm  that  in  eating  spoils  only  the  best.  He, 
with  his  sorcery,  always  aims  at  killing  the  greatest.  If  you 
do  not  give  him  up,  there  will  be  war;  for  our  chief  has  had 
this  same  demand  made  on  him  from  a  third  chief  whose 
people  this  man  has  been  killing,  and  our  chief  will  have 
to  make  war  with  you.'  " 

Ogwedembe  laughed.  "  You  say  '  war  '  to  me  ?  That  is 
nothing  to  me.     You  cannot  do  it.    War  cannot  touch  me.'* 


316  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

When  the  message  of  the  Orungu  chief  was  being  sent  to 
0<ywedembe,  some  of  the  attendants  on  the  delegation  had 
awaited  half-way  on  the  route,  and  only  the  three  had 
brought  the  message.  Ogwedembe  said  to  these  three  mes- 
sengers, "Go  and   call  your  chief,  and  we  will  talk  about 

it." 

The  chief  came.  (All  this  while  the  man  was  away  at  the 
other  village,  not  having  kept  his  promise  to  return.) 

Ogwedembe  said  to  the  Orungu  chief,  "It  is  impossible. 
The  law  is  sacred.  I  will  not  give  him  up."  But  in  his 
heart  he  felt,  "  I  am  protecting  a  sorcerer  who  has  tried  to 
kill  me;  better  I  take  the  money  for  his  extradition,  and 
send  him  away."  He  and  the  chief  went  on  discussing. 
The  point  was  made  that  the  sorcerer  having  himself  broken 
his  obligation,  by  attempting  to  injure  his  adopted  father, 
relieved  that  father  of  his  Ukuku  duty  of  protection. 

Ogwedembe  began  to  yield,  and  to  name  the  number  of 
slaves  that  should  be  given  him  as  the  price  of  giving  up 
the  man.  The  Orungu  chief  demurred  to  the  price :  "  It  is 
too  much !  "  So  Ogwedembe  brought  down  the  price  to  six 
slaves,  —  three  slaves,  and  three  bundles  of  goods  equal  to 
the  price  of  three  slaves.  And  it  was  so  settled.  Then 
the  Orungu  chief  said,  "  I  will  go  in  haste  to  my  town  to 
get  you  the  goods ;  but  as  to  the  three  slaves,  this  man's  boy 
must  be  counted  as  one  of  them." 

There  was  a  dispute  over  this,  Ogwedembe  claiming  that 
the  boy  was  not  guilty  of  any  crime,  and  that  his  right  to 
protection  still  existed.  The  Orungu  insisted  that  the  boy, 
being  a  slave,  must  follow  the  fortunes  of  his  master,  must 
be  extradited  as  one  with  him,  and  then  would  of  their  own 
will  be  released  by  them  from  the  penalty  of  his  master's 
guilt.  Ogwedembe  consented.  So  the  Orungu  chief  and 
his  people  went  to  get  the  goods,  on  the  promise  that 
Ogwedembe  would  have  the  man  caught  and  ready  to  be 
delivered  to  them. 

At  once  Ogwedembe  sent  word  to  the  man  to  fulfil  his 
promise  of   returning   to  the  town,  and  told  his  sons  to  be 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      317 

ready  early  next  day  to  have  the  man  caught  and  tied,  ready 
for  delivery  on  arrival  of  the  goods. 

Next  day  Ogwedembe,  seeing  the  man  coming  to  him, 
came  out  of  his  house  to  meet  him,  and  speaking  ewiria 
(hidden  meaning),  called  out  to  his  people,  "Sons,  have 
you  tied  up  the  bundle  of  bush-deer  meat?"  "Oh  yes, 
father,  we  '11  have  it  ready  just  now,"  as  they  came  running 
to  him.  Then  they  suddenly  fell  upon  the  man,  dragged 
him  inside  the  house,  began  to  strip  off  his  clothing, 
and  tied  him.  He  at  once  knew  that  there  was  no  mercy, 
and  he  did  not  resist;  but  he  said  to  his  boy,  "Call  me 
Adova  and  her  husband." 

But  she  knew  he  was  naked,  so  she  told  her  husband  to  go 
and  hear  what  the  man  had  to  say.  Owondo  went,  and  the 
man  said,  "Owondo,  I  have  no  friends  here;  only  you  and 
Adova  have  been  kind  to  me,  so  I  call  you  my  friend. 
Untie  this  small  strip  of  cloth  I  have  about  my  waist.  I 
have  four  silver  dollars  there.  I  am  going  to  die.  These 
dollars  are  of  no  use  to  me ;  you  and  your  wife  take  them. 
My  box  is  in  Adova's  care;  she  must  have  the  few  things  in 
it."  So  Owondo  untied  the  girdle,  took  the  money,  and 
went  out. 

Shortly  afterward  the  Orungu  people  came,  bringing  the 
goods  and  slaves,  and  took  away  the  man.  He  was  taken 
by  the  three  messengers  to  the  half-way  camp,  where  they 
had  left  their  attendants.  There  were  no  houses  there  for 
shelter,  and  only  their  mosquito-nets  as  tents.  They  stopped 
there  with  the  intention  of  passing  the  night,  and  next  day 
of  going  on  to  their  Orungu  town. 

When  it  came  evening  they  began  to  prepare  their  sleep- 
ing-places, and  at  bedtime  one  by  one  they  went  to  lie 
down.  A  large  branch  from  an  overhanging  tree  fell  very 
near  the  bed  of  one  of  the  Orungu  leaders,  which  was  ad- 
joining that  of  the  sorcerer.  So  they  all  said,  "Ah!  we  see 
what  is  being  done  by  his  arts.  If  this  has  begun  so  soon, 
who  knows  what  will  happen  before  morning  ?  Let  us  start 
at  once." 


318  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

So  they  all  made  ready  that  very  night,  and  went  out  of 
the  forest,  down  to  the  beach,  and  got  into  their  boat  (as 
they  had  come  part  of  the  way  by  sea). 

Not  long  after  they  had  started  the  sea  became  very  rough. 
Soon  the  boat  capsized,  broke  to  pieces,  and  all  their  goods 
were  lost.  They  all  escaped  ashore,  but  the  sorcerer  was 
missing.  They  waited  on  the  beach  until  daylight,  and 
then  found  his  loin  cloth  washed  ashore.  (His  hands  had 
been  tied.)  They  believed  that  he  had  caused  the  storm, 
and  was  willing  to  die  with  them  in  the  general  destruction 
rather  than  survive  to  be  put  to  death  by  the  torture  to  which 
sorcerers  were  usually  subjected. 

So  these  people  sent  back  word  to  Ogwedembe  and  to  the 
nearer  villages  to  let  them  know  what  had  happened  to  them, 
and  they  returned  to  their  Orungu  country  by  land. 

The  little  slave  boy,  who  had  been  left  with  Ogwedembe 
as  one  of  the  three  to  be  given  as  the  price  of  extradition, 
was  shortly  afterward  given  by  him  as  a  present  to  the  sick 
friend  I  was  visiting  that  day.  She  stated  that  he  was  a 
most  faithful  servant  and  affectionate  attendant  on  her  infant 
daughter.  He  stayed  with  her,  and  died  in  her  service  a  few 
years  later,  about  1883;  and  she  mourned  for  him,  for  she 
had  treated  him,  not  as  a  slave,  but  as  a  son. 

XI.    Unago  and  Ekela-Mbengo. 

(In  the  presence  of  theosophy,  telepathy,  thought-trans- 
ference, astrophysics,  and  wireless  telegraphy,  the  following 
Benga  legend  has  at  least  a  standing-place.  It  was  written 
more  than  forty  years  ago  by  an  educated  native  in  the  Benga 
dialect.  I  translate  it  into  English,  preserving  some  of  the 
native  idiom.) 

Unago  and  Ekela  were  great  friends.  They  lived,  Unago 
at  Mbini  in  Eyo  (Benito  River);  Ekela  at  JekS  in  Muni 
(the  river  Muni,  opposite  Elobi  islands  in  Corisco  Bay.  The 
two  rivers  are  at  least  forty  miles  apart;  Ekela  is  supposed 
to  make  the  journey  in  two  hours.) 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT       319 

They  were  accustomed,  if  one  killed  a  wild  animal,  to 
send  for  the  other.  One  day  Unago  killed  a  hog.  Then  he 
sent  for  his  friend  Ekela.  He  at  Mbini  said,  "  Oh,  Chum 
Ekela!  start  you  out  very  early  in  the  morning  hither. 
Come  to  eat  a  feast  of  pig."  And  his  children  would  say, 
"Father,  your  friend  at  J  eke,  and  you  right  here,  will  he 
hear?"  Said  he,  "Yes,  he  will  hear."  And  so  Ekela,  off 
there,  would  say  to  his  children,  "Do  you  hear  how  my 
friend  is  calling  to  me?"  His  children  answered,  "We  do 
not  hear."  Says  he,  "Yes,  my  friend  has  called  me  to 
eat  pig  there  to-morrow." 

Before  daybreak  Ekela  takes  his  staff  and  his  fly-brush  and 
starts.  When  the  sun  is  at  the  point  of  shining  at  Corisco,  he 
reaches  Mbini.  Unago  says  to  his  children,  "  Did  I  not  say 
to  you  that  he  can  hear?  " 

And  so  they  eat  the  feast;  the  feast  ended,  they  tell  nar- 
ratives. In  the  afternoon  Ekela  says,  "  Chum,  I  'm  going 
back."     Unago  says,  "Yes." 

Having  left  him  after  escorting  him  part  of  the  way,  this 
one  goes  on,  and  that  one  returns.  When  Ekela,  going  on 
and  on,  reaches  clear  to  Jeke,  then  day  darkens.  When  his 
children  see  the  lunch  which  he  brings,  then  they  believe  that 
he  has  been  at  Mbini. 

A  Proverb:  Manga  Ma  Ekela. 

(Manga  means  "the  sea";  secondarily,  "the  sea-beach"; 
thirdly,  by  euphemism,  "a  latrine,"  or  "going  to  a  latrine." 
For  the  sea-beach  is  used  by  the  natives  for  that  purpose, 
they  going  there  immediately  on  rising  in  the  morning. 
They  stay,  of  course,  but  a  short  time.  If  one  should  stay 
very  long,  this  proverb  would  be  used  of  him,  because  Ekela, 
when  he  went,  stayed  and  made  a  journey  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles.) 

Ekela  was  accustomed,  if  he  started  out  early  to  the  sea- 
side in  the  morning,  to  say,  "  I  am  going  to  manga  " ;  then 
he  went  on  and  on,  clear  on  to  Hondo  (a  place  at  least  fifteen 
miles  distant).    Passing  Hondo,  his  "manga  "  would  end  only 


320  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

wherever  he  and  his  friend  Unago  met.  There  having  told 
their  stories,  the}^  theii  each  returned.  This  one  went  to  his 
village,  and  that  one  to  his  village.  When  Ekela  was  about 
to  go  back  to  his  village,  then  he  would  leave  his  fly-brush  at 
the  spot  where  he  and  his  friend  had  been;  and  when  he 
would  arrive  at  honie,  he  would  say  to  his  children,  "  Go, 
take  for  me  the  fly-brush  which  was  forgotten  of  me,  there 
at  the  sea,  on  the  place  where  I  was.  Follow  my  foot-tracks." 
When  the  children  went,  it  was  step  by  step  to  Hondo,  and 
the  foot-tracks  were  still  farther  beyond. 

The  children,  wearied,  came  back  together  unto  their 
father,  and  said,  "We  did  not  see  the  brush."  When  he 
went  another  morning,  then  he  himself  brought  it. 


XII.   Malanda  —  AN  Initiation  into  a  Family 
Guardian-Spirit  Company. 

(Manjana  was  my  cook  at  Batanga  in  1902.  He  is  a  young 
married  man  with  several  small  children.  He  is  of  a  mild, 
kindly  disposition,  obliging  and  smiling,  without  much  force 
of  character,  slightly  educated,  civilized  in  manner  and  dress, 
but  without  even  a  pretence  of  Christianity ;  at  heart  a  heathen, 
though  a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  into  which 
he  consented  to  be  baptized  as  the  means  of  obtaining  in  mar- 
riage his  wife,  who  had  been  raised  in  that  church. 

His  Romanism  sat  lightly  on  him,  for  he  voluntarily  at- 
tended my  Protestant  evening-prayers,  taking  his  turn  with 
others  in  reading  verses  around  in  the  chapter  of  Scripture 
for  the  day;  then  he  liked  to  take  part  in  the  general 
conversation  which  followed  about  native  beliefs  and  native 
customs. 

Yaka,  or  family  fetich,  is  no  longer,  at  Batanga,  a  matter 
of  dread,  even  to  the  heathen ;  so  Manjana  was  not  afraid  to 
tell  me  freely  what  happened  when  he  was  initiated  into  it 
as  a  lad.  I  wrote  down  his  story  hastily,  as  soon  as  he  left 
that  evening.  I  later  wrote  it  out  in  full,  while  it  was  all 
fresh   in   my  memory.     I  could   not   exactly  reproduce   his 


TALES  OF  FETICH  BASED  ON  FACT   321 

graphic  native  words,  so  I  did  not  attempt  them.  Tlie  de- 
scription is  my  own.  Hut  1  followed  exactly  the  line  of  his 
story,  and  used  only  his  thoughts.     He  said :  ) 

"  I  knew  that  a  house  was  being  built  on  the  edge  of  the 
forest,  a  short  distance  from  our  village.  I  and  other  lads 
and  young  men  assisted  the  strong  adult  men  who  were  build- 
ing it.  But  I  did  not  then  know  for  what  purpose  or  why 
it  was  being  built.  I  remembered  afterward  that  no  girls 
or  women  were  either  assisting  or  even  lounging  about  it, 
watching  the  process  of  building  and  chatting  with  the  work- 
men, as  when  other  houses  were  built.  I  did  not  know 
that  they  had  been  told  not  to  look  there.  I  remembered 
afterward  that  the  house  was  located  separately  from  the 
other  houses  of  the  village,  but  that  did  not  just  then 
strike  me  as  strange.  Somewhat  similar  houses  had  been 
built,  as  temporary  sheds  in  making  a  boat  or  canoe.  Such 
houses  are  built  rapidly,  and  not  with  the  same  care  as  is 
used  in  the  erection  of  dwellings.  So  it  did  not  occur  to  me 
as  noticeable  that  this  house  was  finished  in  the  short  time 
of  two  weeks.     One  gable  of  it  was  left  open. 

Nor  did  I  connect  its  erection  with  the  fact  that  a  promi- 
nent man  of  our  family  had  died  just  two  weeks  before. 
I  know  now  that,  in  the  manner  of  his  death,  or  in  things 
that  happened  immediately  afterward,  the  elders  of  the  family 
had  seen  inauspicious  signs  that  made  them  fear  that  evil  was 
being  plotted  against  us.  As  I  now  know,  some  six  or  eight 
of  our  leading  adult  male  members  of  the  family  had  had  a 
secret  consultation,  and  had  decided  that  Malanda  should  be 
invoked. 

I  did  not  then  know  much  about  Malanda.  I  knew  the 
name,  that  it  was  a  power,  that  it  was  dreaded ;  but  how  or 
why  I  had  not  been  told. 

I  know  now  that  while  this  house  was  being  built  one  or 
two  other  men  were  carving  an  image  of  a  male  figure ;  also, 
that  when  the  house  was  completed,  that  very  night  some  of 
those  elders  had  secretly  disinterred  the  corpse  that  had  been 
already  two  weeks  in  its  grave,  and  had  brought  it  to  that 

21 


322  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

house.  There  they  had  extracted  two  teeth,  and  had  fas- 
tened them  in  the  hollowed-out  cavities  representing  the  eyes 
of  the  image,  and  had  hidden  them  there  by  fastening  over 
them,  with  a  common  resinous  gum  of  the  forest,  two  small 
pieces  of  glass.  And  they  had  stood  the  image,  painted  hide- 
ously, on  the  cover  of  a  large  box,  made  of  the  flexible  inner 
bark  of  a  tree,  at  the  closed  end  of  the  house. 

Then  tliey  had  cut  off  the  head  of  the  corpse  and  had 
scooped  out  its  rotten  brains.  These  they  had  mixed  with 
chalk  and  powdered  red-wood  and  the  ashes  of  other  plants, 
and  had  tied  up  the  mixture  carefully  in  a  bundle  of  dry 
plantain  leaves.  I  already  knew  and  had  seen  such  things 
regarded  as  very  valuable  "medicine,"  used  to  rub  on  the 
forehead  or  other  parts  of  the  body.  Then  they  had  tied 
the  headless  corpse  erect  against  a  side  wall  of  the  house, 
keeping  its  arms  extended  by  cross  pieces  of  wood. 

The  first  that  I  knew  that  anything  unusual  was  about  to 
occur  was  early  one  morning,  just  after  the  completion  of  the 
house,  when  the  voices  of  the  elders  were  heard  in  the  street, 
"Malanda  has  come!"  The  women  and  girls  were  fright- 
ened. They  knew  they  were  not  to  look  at  Malanda.  And 
we  lads  were  oppressed  with  a  vague  dread  that  subdued 
us  from  our  usual  boisterous  plays.  We  knew  the  name 
"Malanda."  It  was  a  power,  it  was  mysterious.  Mystery 
is  a  burden;  it  might  be  for  good  or  for  evil. 

Immediately  all  the  adult  men  went  into  the  forest.  In 
about  an  hour  they  returned,  bearing  on  their  shoulders  a 
long,  large  log  of  a  tree.  They  cast  it  into  the  middle  of 
the  street,  facing  the  sun.     The  hour  was  about  8  a.m. 

They  sternly  ordered  about  twenty  of  the  young  men  and 
lads  to  sit  down  on  the  log.  The  mystery  that  had  bur- 
dened me  now  fell  heavier.  Our  mothers  and  sisters  were 
afraid  to  look  on  us,  even  with  sympathy.  These  men  were 
our  fathers  and  uncles  and  elder  brothers,  but  their  voices 
were  harsh,  their  faces  set  with  severity,  their  eyes  had 
no  light  of  recognition  as  relatives,  and  their  hands  handled 
us  roughly.     I  was  dazed  and  helpless  in  my  own  village 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED    ON   FACT       323 

and  among  my  own  relatives,  but  not  a  word  of  pity  nor  a 
look  of  even  kindness  from  a  single  person  !  Each  of  the 
twenty  also  was  too  occupied  with  his  own  destiny  to  speak 
to  a  fellow  victim.  As  far  as  our  treatment  was  concerned 
we  might  have  been  slaves  in  another  tribe.  With  no  will 
of  our  own  we  blindly  did  as  we  were  bidden. 

We  were  told  to  throw  our  heads  back,  bending  our  necks 
to  the  point  of  pain,  and  to  stare  with  unblinking  eyes  at  the 
sun.  As  the  sun  mounted  all  that  morning,  hot  and  glaring, 
toward  the  zenith,  we  were  sedulously  watched  to  see  that 
we  kept  our  heads  back,  arms  down,  and  eyes  following 
tlie  burning  sun  in  its  ascent.  JNIy  throat  was  parched 
with  thirst.  My  brain  began  to  whirl,  the  pain  in  my 
eyes  became  intolerable,  and  I  ceased  to  hear;  all  around 
me  became  black,    and  I  fell  off  the   log. 

As  each  one  of  us  thus  became  exhausted  or  actually 
fainted,  we  were  blindfolded  and  taken  to  that  house.  On 
reaching  it  still  blindfolded  I  knew  nothing  that  was  there. 
I  smelled  only  a  horrible  odor.  The  same  rough  hands  and 
hard  voices  had  possession  of  me.  Though  blindfolded,  I 
could  feel  that  the  eyes  that  were  looking  on  me  were  cruel. 

It  was  useless  to  resist,  as  they  began  to  beat  me  with  rods. 
My  outcries  only  brought  severer  blows.  I  perceived  that 
submission  lightened  their  strokes.  When  finally  I  ceased 
struggling  or  crying,  the  bandage  was  removed.  The  horror 
of  that  headless  corpse  standing  extending  its  rotting  arms 
toward  me,  and  the  staring  glass  eyes  of  the  image  overcame 
me,  and  I  attempted  to  flee.  That  was  futile.  I  was  seized 
and  beaten  more  severely  than  before,  until  I  had  no  will  or 
wish,  but  utter  submission  to  the  will  of  whatever  power  it 
might  be,  natural  or  supernatural,  into  whose  hands  I  had 
fallen. 

When  all  twenty  of  us  had  been  thus  reduced  to  abject 
submission,  we  were  treated  less  severely.  Some  kindness 
began  to  be  shown.  Our  physical  wants  were  looked  after 
and  regarded.  Food  and  drink  were  supplied  us.  I  ob- 
served an  occasional  look  of  recognition.     I  began  to  feel 


324  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

that  I  was  being  admitted  into  a  companionship.  There 
was  something  manly  in  the  thought  of  being  entrusted  with 
a  secret  to  which  younger  lads  were  not  admitted  and  from 
which  all  of  womankind  were  debarred.  This  gave  me  a 
sense  of  elevation.  There  were  some  people  whom  I  could 
look  down  upon !  It  began  to  be  worth  while  to  have  suf- 
fered so  much.  I  began  to  be  accustomed  to  the  corpse  of 
my  relative.  True,  I  was  a  prisoner;  but  the  days  were 
relieved  by  a  variety  of  instructions  and  ceremonies  prac- 
tised over  us  by  the  doctor. 

At  first  we  were,  in  succession,  solemnly  asked  whether 
we  were  possessed  of  any  witchcraft  power  ("  o  na  jemba  ?  " 
Have  you  a  witch?)  Elsewhere  we  all  would  have  indig- 
nantly denied  having  any  such  evil  doings.  But  in  the  face 
of  that  corpse,  under  the  presence  of  the  unknown  power  to 
which  we  were  being  introduced,  in  the  hands  of  a  pitiless 
inquisition,  and  with  the  obliteration  of  our  own  wills,  we 
did  not  dare  lie.  Would  not  the  power  know  we  were  lying? 
We  told  what  we  imagined  to  be  the  truth ;  some  admitted, 
some  denied. 

The  Yaka  bundle  was  opened ;  some  of  its  dust  was  added 
to  the  brain-mixture  (already  mentioned).  Of  this  compound 
an  ointment  was  made.  On  the  breasts  of  those  who  denied 
were  drawn  commendatory  longitudinal  lines  of  that  oint- 
ment. On  the  breasts  of  those  who  admitted  were  drawn 
corrective  horizontal  lines  with  the  same  mixture.  Instruc- 
tions appropriate  to  our  respective  condition,  as  witch  pos- 
sessed or  non-possessed,  were  given  by  the  doctor. 

We  were  interested  also  in  watching  the  digging  of  a  pit 
in  the  floor  of  the  house.  When  this  had  reached  a  depth 
of  over  six  feet,  a  tunnel  was  driven  laterally  under  one  of 
the  side  walls,  and  opening  out,  a  rod  or  two  beyond,  where 
a  low  hut  was  built  to  conceal  it.  Into  this  tunnel  the  doctor 
and  three  or  four  of  the  strongest  of  the  elders  carried  the 
corpse,  and  left  it  there  for  about  ten  days,  the  doctor  pass- 
ing much  of  that  time  with  it. 

After  we  had  been  in  the  house  almost  twenty  days,  al- 


TALES   OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      325 

though  still  confined,  I  did  not  feel  that  I  was  a  prisoner;  I 
was  deeply  interested  in  seeing  and  taking  part  in  this  great 
mystery.  I  no  longer  dreaded  the  dead.  Even  if  physical 
pain  were  yet  to  be  inflicted  on  me,  I  would  take  it  gladly  as 
the  price  of  a  knowledge  which  ministered  to  manly  pride. 
I  was  being  made  a  sharer  in  the  rights  and  possession  of  the 
family  guardian-spirit. 

A  few  days  after  this  the  corpse,  now  reduced  almost  to 
a  skeleton,  was  brought  up  from  the  tunnel,  and  bisected 
longitudinally.  The  halves  were  laid  a  few  feet  apart,  par- 
allel and  a  short  distance  away  from  the  two  sides  of 
the  house.  We  were  gathered  in  two  companies  against 
the  walls,  and  were  told  to  advance  toward  each  other, 
carefully  stepping  over,  and  by  no  means  to  tread  on,  our 
half  of  the  remains.  And  the  two  companies  met  in  the 
centre. 

We  now  felt  we  were  free,  though  not  formally  told  so. 
We  had  made  a  fearful  oath  of  secrecy.  We  preferred  to 
remain  and  assist  in  the  final  order  of  the  house.  The  doctor 
and  elders  now  disarticulated  the  skeleton  (for  such  it  was, 
the  man  being  dead  now  at  least  five  weeks,  and  the  decom- 
posed flesh  having  almost  all  fallen  away).  The  bones  were 
put  into  the  bark  box  on  which  stood  the  image.  They  were 
an  addition  to  the  contents  of  the  Yaka,  or  family  fetich. 
Then,  at  the  close  of  three  weeks'  confinement  in  the  house, 
we  emerged  in  procession,  the  elders  bearing  the  box  and  the 
image  on  the  top,  and  proceeded  to  the  village  street. 
There  the  box  and  image  were  set;  and  a  joyous  dance  was 
started  with  drum  and  song,  with  all  the  people  of  the  vil- 
lage, male  and  female.  A  sheep  or  goat  was  killed,  and  a 
feast  prepared.  While  the  dance  was  going  on,  the  elders 
around  the  box  were  bowing  and  praying  to  the  image  on 
their  knees.  From  time  to  time  a  man  would  parade  by,  lift- 
ing his  steps  high  and  bowing  low,  and  as  suddenly  erect- 
ing himself  and  strongly  aspirating,  "Hah!  hah!"  And 
the  village  was  glad,  for  it  felt  sure  no  evil  could  now  come 
to  it.     I  was  safe,   and   ready,  at  the  next  time  of  danger, 


326  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

to  assist  in  torturing  the  next  younger  set  of  lads,  for  was 
I  not  a  freeman  of  the  family  guardian-spirit? 

The  box  and  image  were  stowed  away  in  a  back  room  of 
the  village  headman's  dwelling,  who  would  often  take  a 
plate  full  of  food  to  it,  as  a  sacrifice,  and  sometimes  an 
offering  of  cloth  or  other  goods ;  and  the  village  felt  safe. 

Nevertheless,  the  house  was  not  torn  down ;  it  stood  empty 
and  unused.  But  if,  even  a  year  later,  evil  still  fell  on  the 
village,  the  elders  knew  that  something  about  the  Malanda 
had  not  been  rightly  performed.  And  it  must  all  be  done 
over  again  with  the  next  dead  adult  male  (never  a  female) 
and  with  a  new  lot  of  neophytes. 

A  woman  may  be  subjected  to  a  part  of  the  above  cere- 
monies if  she  is  suspected  of  witchcraft,  or  if,  on  examina- 
tion, she  confess  to  using  black  art.  To  purge  her  of  this 
evil,  and  to  counteract  the  consequences  of  what  she  may 
have  done,  she  is  taken  to  the  little  hut  over  the  end  of  the 
tunnel,  and  some  of  the  above  described  ceremonies  are  per- 
formed over  her;  but  she  is  never  taken  into  tlie  house,  nor 
into  the  presence  of  the  corpse. 


XIII.    Three-Things  Came  Back  too  Late. 

(The  following  narrative  was  told  me  by  a  Batanga  native 
Christian  woman  who,  heiself  less  than  thirty  3'ears  of  age, 
is  a  great-granddaughter  of  the  man  one  of  whose  wives  was 
the  witch  of  this  story.  I  bade  her,  in  giving  me  the 
account,  to  speak,  not  from  her  present  Christian  stand- 
point and  her  only  slight  superstitious  bias,  but  from  the 
full  heathen  view-point.  The  confusing  mixture  of  singu- 
lar and  plural  pronouns  referring  to  the  witch  is  an  exact 
reproduction  of   my  informant's  words.) 

The  great-grandfather  was  a  heathen  and  a  polygamist. 
He  had  four  wives.  One  of  them  was  a  member  of  an 
interior  tribe,  the  Boheba,  more  heathenish  and  superstitious 
than  his  own  Batanga  coast  tribe.       Unknown  to  him,  she 


TALES   OP^   FETICH    BASED   ON   FACT       327 

was  ii  member  of  the  Witclicnift  Society,  had  power  with 
the  s})irits,  and  they  with  her,  attended  their  secret  night 
meetings,  and  engaged  in  their  unhaUowed  orgies. 

The  husband,  though  not  a  member  of  the  society,  had 
acquired  some  knowledge  of  witchcraft  art,  and,  tliough 
without  tlie  power  to  transform  himself,  as  wizards  did,  was 
able  to  see  and  know  what  was  being  done  at  distances  be- 
yond ordinary  human  sight. 

One  night  she  arose  from  her  bed  to  go  and  attend  a 
witchcraft  play.  She  left  her  physical  "house,"  the  fleshly 
body,  lying  on  the  bed,  so  that  no  one  not  in  tlie  secret, 
seeing  that  body  lying  there,  would  think  other  than  it  was 
herself,  nor  would  know  that  she  was  gone  out.  In  her 
going  out  she  willed  to  emerge  as  Three-Things,  and  this 
triple  unit  went  off  to  the  witchcraft  play.  The  husband 
happened  to  see  this,  and  watched  her  as  she  disappeared, 
saw  where  she  went,  and,  though  distant  and  out  of  sight, 
knew  what  she  was  doing.  So  he  said  to  himself,  "  She 
is  off  at  her  play;  I  also  will  do  some  playing  here;  she 
shall  know  what  I  have  done." 

Anions:  the  several  things  of  which  followers  of  witchcraft 
are  afraid,  and  which  weaken  their  power,  is  cayenne  pepper. 
So  this  man  gathered  a  large  quantity  of  pepper-pods  from 
the  bushes  growing  in  the  behu  (kitchen-garden),  and  bruised 
them  in  a  mortar  to  a  fine  soft  pulp.  This  he  smeared  thor- 
oughly all  over  the  woman's  unconscious  body  as  it  lay  in 
her  bedroom.  He  left  not  the  smallest  portion  of  her  skin 
untouched  by  the  pepper,  —  from  her  scalp,  and  in  the  inter- 
stices of  her  fingers  and  toes,  minutely  over  her  entire  body. 

Meanwhile,  with  the  woman  at  her  play,  the  night  was 
passing.  The  witches'  sacred  bird,  the  owl,  began  its  early 
morning  warning  hoot.  She  prepared  to  return.  As  she 
was  returning,  the  first  morning  cock-crow  also  warned  her 
to  hasten,  lest  daybreak  should  find  her  triple  unit  outside 
of  its  fleshly  "house."  So  the  three  came  rushing  with  the 
speed  of  wind  back  to  her  village.  Her  husband  was  on  the 
watch ;  he  heard  this  panting  sound  as  of  a  person  breathing 


328  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

rapidly,  and  felt  the  impulse  of  their  wind  as  she  reached 
her  hut  and  came  in  to  re-enter  their  house. 

He  saw  her  approach  every  possible  part  of  the  body,  seek- 
ing to  find  even  a  minute  spot  that  was  not  barred  by  the 
pepper.  She  searched  long  and  anxiously,  but  in  vain ;  and 
in  despair  they  went  and  hid  herself  in  a  wood-pile  at  the 
back  of  one  of  the  village  huts,  waiting  in  terror  for  some 
possible  escape. 

All  this  the  husband  saw  silently.  When  morning  light 
finally  came,  he  knew  that  this  wife  was  dead,  for  her  life- 
spirit  had  not  succeeded  in  returning  to  its  body  within  the 
specified  time.  It  was  therefore  a  dead  body.  But  he  said 
nothing  about  it  to  any  one,  and  went  off  fishing. 

As  the  morning  hours  were  passing  while  he  was  away 
and  the  woman's  door  of  her  hut  was  still  closed,  his  chil- 
dren began  to  wonder  and  to  say,  "What  is  this?  What  is 
the  matter?  Since  morning  light  our  father's  wife  has  not 
come  out  into  the  street."  After  waiting  awhile  longer,  their 
anxiety  and  curiosity  overcame  them,  and  they  broke  in  the 
door.  There  they  saw  the  woman  lying  dead.  They  fled  in 
fear,  saying,  "What  is  this  that  has  killed  our  father's  wife?" 
They  went  down  to  the  beach  to  meet  him  as  he  returned 
from  fishing,  and  excitedly  told  him,  "  Father,  we  have  found 
your  Boheba  wife  dead!"  The  man,  to  their  surprise,  did 
not  seem  grieved.  He  simply  said,  "  Let  another  one  of  my 
wives  cook  for  me;  I  will  first  eat."  Still  more  to  their  sur- 
prise, he  added,  "And  you,  my  children,  and  all  people  of 
the  village,  do  not  any  of  you  dare  even  to  touch  the  body. 
Only,  at  once,  send  word  to  her  Boheba  relatives  to  come." 

This  warning  he  gave  his  people,  lest  any  of  them  should 
sicken  by  coming  close  to  the  atmosphere  that  the  witch  had 
possibly  brought  back  with  her  from  her  play. 

By  the  time  he  had  finished  eating,  the  woman's  relatives 
had  arrived.  They  were  all  heavily  armed  with  guns  and 
spears  and  knives,  and  were  threatening  revenge  for  their 
sister's  death. 

The  man  quietly  bade  them  delay  their  anger  till  they  had 


TALES    OF   FETICH   BASED   ON   FACT      329 

heard  what  he  had  to  say ;  and  took  them  to  the  woman's  hut, 
that  they  themselves  might  examine  the  corpse,  leaving  to 
them  the  chance  of  contamination. 

They  examined ;  they  lifted  up  the  body  of  their  sister,  and 
searched  closely  for  any  sign  of  wound  or  bruise.  Finding 
none,  but  still  angry,  they  were  mystified,  and  exclaimed, 
"  What  then  has  killed  her  ?  "  And  they  seated  themselves 
for  a  verbal  investigation.  But  the  man  said,  "  We  will  not 
talk  just  yet.  First  stand  up,  and  you  shall  see  for  your- 
selves." As  they  arose,  the  man  said,  "  Remove  all  those 
sticks  in  that  wood-pile.  You  will  find  the  woman  there." 
So  they  pulled  away  the  sticks  ;  and  there  they  found  Three- 
Things.  "  There  ! "  said  the  husband,  "  see  the  reason  why 
your  sister  is  dead !  "  At  that  the  relatives  were  ashamed, 
and  said,  "  Brother-in-law !  we  have  nothing  to  say  against 
you,  for  our  eyes  see  what  our  sister  has  done.  She  has  killed 
herself,  and  she  is  worthy  to  be  punished  by  fire."  (Burning 
was  a  common  mode  of  execution  for  the  crime  of  witchcraft.) 

In  her  terror  at  being  unable  to  get  back  into  her  mortal 
body,  the  Three-Things,  all  the  while  she  was  hidden  in  the 
wood-pile,  had  shrivelled  smaller  and  smaller  until  what  was 
left  were  three  deformed  crab-shaped  beings,  a  few  inches  long, 
with  mouths  like  frogs.  These,  paralyzed  with  fear,  could  not 
speak,  but  could  only  chatter  and  tremble. 

So  the  relatives  seized  these  Three-Things,  and  also 
carried  away  the  body  ;  and,  followed  by  all  the  people  of  the 
village,  they  burnt  it  and  them  on  a  large  rock  by  the  sea. 

That  rock  I  pass  very  often  as  I  walk  on  the  beach.  At 
high  tide  it  is  cut  off  from  the  shore  a  distance  of  a  few  yards  ; 
at  low  tide  one  can  walk  out  to  it.  It  is  only  a  few  hundred 
yards  from  our  Batanga  Mission  Station. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FETICH  IN   FOLK-LORE 

THE  telling  of  Folk-lore  Tales  amounts,  with  the  African 
Negro,  almost  to  a  passion.  By  day,  both  men  and 
women  have  their  manual  occupations,  or,  even  if  idhng, 
pass  the  time  in  sleep  or  gossip  ;  but  at  night,  particularly 
with  moonlight,  if  there  be  on  hand  no  dances,  either  of 
fetich-worship  or  of  mere  amusement,  some  story-teller  is 
asked  to  recite.  All  know  the  tales,  but  not  all  can  recite 
them  dramatically.  The  audience  never  wearies  of  repeti- 
tion. The  skilful  story-teller  in  Africa  occupies  in  the 
community  the  place  filled  in  civilization  b}'"  the  actor  or 
concert-singer. 

This  is  true  all  over  Africa.  In  any  one  region  there  are 
certain  tales  common  to  all  the  tribes  in  that  region.  But 
almost  every  tribe  will  have  tales  distinctive  to  it.  It  is  part 
of  native  courtesy  to  ask  a  visitor  to  contribute  his  local  story 
to  the  amusement  of  the  evening. 

Some  of  these  tales  are  probably  of  ancient  origin,  as  to 
their  plot  and  their  characters.  I  am  disposed  to  give  the 
folk-lore  of  Africa  a  very  ancient  origin.  Ethnology  and 
philology  trace  the  Bantu  stream  from  the  northeast,  not  by 
a  straight  line  diagonally  to  the  southwest,  but  the  stream, 
starting  with  an  infusion  of  Hamitic  (and  perhaps  Caucasian) 
blood  in  the  Nubian  provinces,  flowed  south  to  the  Cape, 
and  then,  turning  on  itself,  flowed  northwestward  until  it 
lost  itself  at  the  Bight  of  Benin.  That  blood  gave  to  the 
Bantu  features  more  delicate  than  those  of  the  northern 
Guinea  Negro. 

That  stream,  as  it  flowed,  carried  with  it  arts,  thoughts, 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  331 

plants,  and  animals  from  the  south  of  Egypt.  The  bellows 
used  in  every  village  smithy  on  the  West  Coast  is  the  same  as 
is  depicted  on  Egyptian  monuments.  The  great  personages 
mentioned  as  "  kings  "  are  probably  semi-deified  ancestors,  or 
are  even  confounded  with  the  Creator.  It  may  not  be  only 
a  coincidence  that  the  ancient  Egyptian  word  "  Ra  "  exists  in 
west  equatorial  tribes  (contracted  from  "rera"  —  my  father) 
with  its  meaning  of  "  Lord,"  "  Master,"  "  Sir."  In  these  tales 
the  name  Ra-]\lborakinda  is  used  interchangeably  with  the 
Divine  Name,  Ra-Nyambe. 

But  it  is  true  that  a  doubt  can  be  raised  against  the  an- 
tiquity of  some  of  the  tales,  in  which  are  introduced  words, 
e.<^.,  "cannon,"  "pistol,"  articles  not  known  to  the  African 
until  compai-atively  modern  times.  And  in  the  case  of  a  few, 
such  as  No.  V.,  the  origin  is  in  all  probability  modern.  In 
No.  V.  the  reader  at  once  turns  in  thought  to  "  Ali  Baba  and 
the  Forty  Thieves."  There  the  internal  evidence  is  positive, 
either  that  the  story  was  heard  long  ago  from  Arabs  (or  per- 
haps within  the  last  hundred  years  from  some  foreigner),  or 
there  may  have  been  an  original  African  storj^  to  which  mod- 
ern narrators  have  attached  incidents  of  Ali  Baba  which  they 
have  overheard  within  the  last  fifty  years  from  some  white 
trader  or  educated  Sierra-Leonian. 

But  it  would  not  necessarily  condemn  a  tale's  claim  to  an- 
tiquity that  it  had  in  it  modern  words.  Such  words  as 
"gun,"  "pistol,"  "stairway,"  "canvas,"  and  others  may  be 
interpolations.  It  was  probably  true  long  ago,  as  is  now  the 
case,  that  narrators  added  to  or  changed  words  uttered  by  the 
characters.  Where  in  the  plot  some  modern  weapon  is  named, 
long  ago  it  was  perhaps  a  spear,  club,  or  bow  and  arrow. 
When  Dutch  and  Portuguese  built  their  forts  on  the  African 
shore  three  hundred  years  ago,  some  bright  narrator  could 
readily  have  varied  the  evening's  performance  by  introducing 
a  cannon  into  the  story.  Such  variations  necessarily  grew ; 
for  the  native  languages  were  not  crystallized  into  written 
ones  until  the  days  of  the  modern  missionary. 

In  recitation  great  latitude  is  allowed  as  to  the  time  occu- 


332  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

pied.  Brevity  is  not  desired.  A  story  whose  outline  could 
be  told  in  ten  minutes  may  be  spread  over  two  hours  by  a 
vivid  use  of  the  speaker's  imagination  in  a  minute  description 
of  details.  A  great  deal  of  repetition  (after  the  manner  of 
"  Tliis  is  the  house  that  Jack  built ")  is  employed,  that  would 
be  wearisome  to  a  civiUzed  audience,  but  is  intensely  en- 
joyed by  the  African,  e.  g.,  where  the  plot  calls  for  the  doing 
of  an  act  for  several  days  in  succession,  we  would  say  simply, 
"  And  the  next  day  he  did  the  same."  But  the  native  lover 
of  folk-lore  will  repeat  the  same  details  in  the  same  words 
for  the  second  and  third  and  even  fourth  day.  In  my  report- 
ing I  have  omitted  this  repetition. 

I  have  purposely  used  some  native  idioms  in  order  to  re- 
tain local  color.  African  narrators  use  very  short  sentences. 
Africans  in  many  respects  are  grown-up  children.  One  of 
their  daily  recognized  idioms  finds  its  exact  parallel  in  the 
speech  of  our  own  children.  Listen  to  a  civilized  child's  ani- 
mated account  of  some  act.  They  repeat.  The  native  does 
so  constantly.  He  is  not  satisfied,  in  telling  the  narrative  of 
a  journey,  by  saying  curtly,  "  I  went."  His  form  is,  "  I  went, 
went,  there,  there,"  etc.  His  dramatic  acting  keeps  up  the 
interest  of  the  audience  in  the  twice-told  tale. 

I.    Queen  Ngwe-nkonde  and  her  Manja. 

A  king,  by  name  Ra-Mborakinda,  had  many  wives,  but 
he  had  no  children  at  all.  He  was  dissatisfied,  and  was 
always  saying  that  he  wanted  children.  So  he  went  to  a 
certain  great  wizard,  named  Ra-Marange,  to  get  help  for  his 
trouble. 

Whenever  any  one  went  on  any  business  to  Ra-Mar§,nge, 
before  he  had  time  to  tell  the  wizard  what  he  wanted,  Ra-Ma- 
range would  say,  "  Have  you  come  to  have  something  wonder- 
ful done  ?  "  On  the  visitor  saying,  "  Yes,"  Ra-Marange,  as 
the  first  step  in  his  preparations  and  to  obtain  all  needed 
power,  would  jump  into  fire  or  do  some  other  astonishing  act. 

So,  this  day,  he  sprang  into  the  fire,  and  came  out  unharmed 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  333 

and  strong.  Then  he  told  Ra-Mborakinda  to  tell  his  story  of 
what  he  had  come  for. 

The  king  said,  "  Other  people  have  children,  but  I  have 
none.  JNIake  me  a  medicine  that  shall  cause  my  women  to 
bear  children."  Ra-Marange  replied,  "  Yes,  I  will  fix  you  the 
medicine ;  and  after  I  have  made  the  mixture,  you  must  re- 
quire all  of  your  women  to  eat  of  it."  So  the  wizard  fixed 
the  medicine,  and  the  king  took  it  with  him  and  went  home. 

His  queen's  name  was  Ngwe-nkonde ;  and  among  his  lesser 
wives  and  concubines  were  two  quite  young  women  who  were 
friends,  one  of  whom  lived  with  the  queen  in  her  hut  as  her 
little  manja,  or  handmaid. 

As  soon  as  Ra-Mborakinda  arrived,  he  announced  his  posses- 
sion of  the  medicine,  and  ordeied  all  his  women  to  come  and 
eat  of  it.  But  Ngwe-nkonde  was  jealous  of  her  young  maid, 
and  did  not  wisli  her  to  become  a  mother.  So,  early  in  the 
morning,  she  purposely  sent  the  manja  away  to  their  mpindi 
(plantation  hut)  on  a  made-up  errand,  so  that  she  might  not 
be  present  at  the  feast. 

At  the  appointed  hour  the  king  spread  out  the  medicine, 
and  called  the  women  to  come.  They  each  came  with  a  piece 
of  plantain  leaf  as  a  plate,  and  assembled  to  eat,  and  Ram- 
borakinda  divided  out  the  medicine  among  them.  Then  the 
other  of  the  two  young  women  remembered  her  friend  the 
manja,  and  observed  that  she  was  absent.  So  she  quickly 
tore  off  a  piece  of  her  plantain  leaf,  and  divided  on  it  a  part 
of  her  own  share  of  the  medicine,  and  hid  it  by  her,  to  keep  it 
for  the  manja,  so  that  she  could  have  it  on  her  return  from 
the  mpindi.  In  the  afternoon,  when  the  manja  returned,  her 
friend  gave  her  the  portion  of  the  medicine,  and  she  ate  it. 
Soon  after  this,  all  these  women  told  Ra-^NIborakinda  that  they 
expected  to  become  mothers. 

After  a  few  months  he  announced  to  them  that  he  was  go- 
ing away  on  a  long  trade-journey  and  that  he  would  not  return 
until  a  stated  time.  He  gave  them  directions  that  in  tlie 
meanwhile  they  should  leave  his  town  and  go  to  their  parents' 
homes  and  stay  there  until  his  return. 


334  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Now  it  happened  that  all  these  women  had  homes  except 
the  little  manja ;  her  parents  were  dead,  but  she  remembered 
the  locality  of  their  deserted  village. 

So  Ra-Mborakinda  left  to  go  on  his  journey,  and  all  the  ex- 
pectant mothers  scattered  to  the  homes  of  their  parents,  except 
the  manja,  who  had  to  follow  with  the  queen  to  her  people's 
village.  But  soon  after  their  arrival  at  Ngwe-nkonde's  home, 
the  latter  began  to  treat  her  maid  cruelly  ;  and  finally,  in  her 
severity,  she  said,  "  Go  away  to  your  own  home  and  sojourn 
there,"  the  while  that  she  knew  very  well  that  her  manja 
had  no  home.  Her  thought  and  hope  were  that  the  manja 
would  perish  in  the  wilderness. 

As  the  maid  knew  the  spot  where  her  home  had  been, 
she  left  Ngwe-nkonde's  village,  and  started  into  the  forest 
to  go  to  her  deserted  village.  On  arriving  there,  she  found 
no  houses  nor  any  i-emains  of  human  habitation.  But  there 
was  a  very  large  fallen  tree,  with  a  trunk  so  curved  that 
it  was  not  lying  entirely  flat  on  the  ground.  Under  this 
enormous  log  she  sat  down  to  rest,  and  it  gave  her  shade 
and  shelter.  She  accepted  it  as  her  place  at  which  to  live 
and  slept  there  that  night.  When  she  awoke  in  the  morn- 
ing, she  saw  lying  near  her  food  and  other  needed  things  ; 
but  she  saw  no  one  coming  or  going.  A  few  days  later  on 
awaking  in  the  morning  she  saw  a  nice  little  house  with  every- 
thing prepared  of  food  and  clothing  and  medicines  and  such 
articles  as  would  be  needed  by  a  mother  for  her  babe.  She 
stayed  there,  and  in  a  few  days  gave  birth  to  a  man-child. 
Each  day  in  the  morning  she  found,  prepared  for  her  hand, 
food  and  other  needed  things  lying  near. 

So  she  stayed  there  a  long  time  till  her  baby  was  able  to 
creep.  When  the  baby  had  grown  strong,  she  knew  it  was 
the  time  that  Ra-Mborakinda  had  appointed  for  the  return  of 
liis  women  to  his  town.  She  finally  gathered  together  her 
things  for  the  journey  next  day.  That  niglit,  before  she  had 
gone  to  sleep,  suddenly  she  saAV  a  little  girl  standing  near 
her,  and  she  heard  a  voice  which  she  remembered  as  her 
mother's  saying,  "  I  give  you  this  little  girl  to  carry  the  babe 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  335 

for  you.  But  when  you  go  back  to  Ra-Mborakinda,  do  not 
allow  anyone  but  yourself  and  this  girl  to  carry  the  child ;  if 
you  do,  the  girl  will  disappear."  So  the  next  morning  they 
started  on  their  journey,  the  young  mother  and  baby  and  the 
fjirl-nurse. 

During  this  while  each  of  the  other  women  had  also 
born  her  baby,  and  they  were  now  preparing  to  return  to 
Ra-Mborakinda's  town.  But  of  them  all  none  had  born  real 
human  beings,  excei)t  the  manja  and  her  young  friend.  All 
the  others  had  born  monstrosities,  like  snakes,  frogs,  and  other 
creatures.  Ngwe-nkonde  had  born  two  snails,  of  the  kind 
called  "  nkala."     (It  is  a  very  large  snail.) 

So  that  day  Ngwe-nkonde  was  coming  along  with  her 
nyamba  (a  long  scarf)  hung  over  her  right  shoulder,  and  her 
two  snails  resting  in  the  slack  of  the  scarf,  as  in  a  hammock, 
over  her  left  hip,  and  supported  by  her  left  arm.  When  the 
manja  reached  the  cross-roads,  she  found  the  queen  waiting 
there.  Her  object  in  waiting  there  was  to  know  whether 
her  maid  was  still  in  existence. 

On  seeing  the  manja,  Ngwe-nkonde  pretended  to  be  pleased 
and  said,  "  Let  me  see  the  child  you  have  born ; "  and  she 
stepped  forward  to  take  the  baby  away  from  the  little  girl- 
nurse.  Manja,  in  her  fear  of  her  mistress  and  accustomed  to 
submit  to  her,  forgot  to  resist.  Ngwe-nkonde  saw  that  the  babe 
was  healthy  and  attractive,  and  she  coveted  it.  She  ex- 
claimed, "  Oh,  what  a  nice  child  j^ou  have  born  !  Let  me 
help  you  carry  it ! "  The  moment  she  took  the  baby,  the 
girl-nurse  disappeared.  Ngwe-nkonde  deposited  the  babe  in 
her  scarf,  and  gave  the  two  snails  to  her  manja,  saying,  "  You 
carry  this  for  me  ! "  She  did  this,  intending  to  cause  Ra- 
Mborakinda  to  think  that  the  baby  was  her  own ;  she  had  no 
intention  to  return  it  to  its  real  mother ;  and  the  manja  did 
not  dare  to  complain. 

So  they  went  onward  on  their  journey  to  the  king's  town. 

All  the  women,  as  they  arrived  there,  saluted  each  other, 
"Mbolo!""Ai!  mbolo ! "  "Ai!"  and  each  told  her  story 
and  showed  her  baby.     Then  they  all  brought  their  babies 


336  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

to  the  King  Ra-Mborakinda,  that  the  father  might  see  his 
children.  In  the  king's  presence  Ngwe-nkonde  took  out 
the  baby  boy  from  her  scarf  and  phiced  it  at  her  breast  to 
nurse.  But  the  child  turned  its  head  away  and  would  not 
nurse,  and  did  nothing  but  cry  and  cry.  Poor  little  manja 
did  not  dare  to  claim  her  own,  and  she  took  no  interest  in 
the  snails  to  show  them  to  the  king.  For  a  whole  day  there 
was  confusion.  The  baby  boy  persisted  in  rejecting  Ngwe- 
nkonde's  breast  and  kept  on  crying,  and  the  snails  were 
moaning. 

Not  knowing  what  to  make  of  this  trouble,  Ra-Mborakinda 
went  again  to  Ra-Marange.  The  wizard  laughed  when  he  saw 
the  king  coming  with  this  new  trouble,  for,  by  his  magic 
power,  he  already  knew  all  that  had  happened.  "  So !  "  he 
says,  "  you  have  come  with  another  trouble,  eh  ?  "  And  at 
once  he  jumps  into  the  fire,  and  emerges  clean  and  strong. 

Then  the  king  informed  the  wizard  what  his  difficulty 
was.  And  Ra-Marange  told  him,  "  This  is  a  small  thing.  It 
does  not  need  medicine.  Go  you  and  tell  all  your  women 
each  to  cook  some  very  nice  food;  then,  sitting  in  a 
circle,  each  must  put  the  nice  food  near  her  feet.  All  tlie 
babies  must  be  put  in  a  bunch  together  in  the  centre,  and 
you  will  see  what  will  happen." 

So  Ra-Mborakinda  went  back  to  his  town  and  told  the 
women  to  follow  these  directions.  They  all  did  so,  except 
the  queen  and  her  manja.  The  former  did  not  put  the  baby 
boy  in  the  bunch  of  the  other  babies,  but  retained  him  on  her 
lap,  and  tried  to  make  him  eat  of  her  nice  food.  But  he  only 
resisted,  and  kept  on  crying,  and  the  manja,  in  her  grief  and 
hopelessness,  had  not  prepared  any  nice  food,  only  a  pottage 
of  greens,  which  she  thought  good  enough  for  her  present 
unhappiness. 

The  king  seeing  that  the  wizard's  directions  were  not 
fully  followed  by  the  queen,  compelled  her  to  put  the  baby 
down  in  the  company  of  the  otlier  creatures,  and  then  he 
and  all  the  mothers  sat  around  watching  what  would  happen. 

Soon   all   the  children  began  to  creep,  each   to   its   own 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  337 

mother.  The  two  snails  went  to  Ngvve-nkonde,  and  began  to 
eat  of  lior  nice  food.  The  little  baby  boy  crept  rapidly 
toward  the  manja,  and  began  with  satisfaction  to  eat  of  the 
poor  food  at  its  mother's  feet. 

That  was  a  revelation  to  the  king  and  to  all  the  other 
mothers.  They  were  surprised  and  indignant  that  Ngwe- 
nkonde  had  been  trying  to  steal  the  baby  from  the  manja; 
Ra-Mborakinda  deposed  her  from  being  queen.  And  the  other 
women  shouted  derision  at  her,  "  Ngwe-nkonde  !  O  !  o-o-o  !  " 
and  drove  her  from  the  town.  She  went  away  in  her  shame, 
leaving  the  two  snails  behind,  and  never  returned. 

And  the  king  made  the  manja  queen  in  her  place.  And 
the  story  ends. 

II.   The  Beautiful  Daughter. 

There  was  a  married  woman,  a  king's  daughter,  by  name 
Maria,  who  was  very  beautiful.  She  had  a  magic  mirror  that 
possessed  the  power  of  speech,  which  she  used  every  day, 
particularly  when  she  desired  to  go  out  for  a  promenade. 
She  would  then  take  this  mirror  from  its  hiding-place,  and 
looking  at  it,  would  ask,  "  My  mirror !  is  there  any  other 
beautiful  woman  like  myself?"  And  this  mirror  would 
reply,  "  Mistress  !  there  is  none." 

This  she  was  accustomed  to  do  every  day  until  she  became 
jealous  at  the  very  thought  of  ever  having  a  rival. 

Subsequently  she  became  a  mother,  and  bore  a  daughter. 
Slie  saw  that  the  child  was  very  beautiful,  more  so  than  even 
lierself.  This  child  grew  in  gi'acef  ulness ;  was  amiable,  not 
l)ioud;  and  was  unconscious  of  her  beauty. 

When  the  daughter  was  about  twelve  years  of  age,  tlie 
mother  dreaded  lest  her  child  should  know  how  attractive  she 
was  and  should  unintentionally  rival  her.  She  told  her 
never  to  enter  a  certain  room  where  she  had  her  toilet.  And 
the  mother  went  on  as  formerly,  looking  into  her  mirror,  and 
then  going  out  to  display  her  beauty. 

One  day  the  daughter  said  to  herself,  "  Ah  I  I  'm  tired  of 
this  prohibition  !  "     So  she  took  the  keys,  and  opened   the 


338  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

door  of  the  forbidden  room.  She  looked  around,  but  not  ob- 
serving anything  especially  noticeable,  she  went  out  again, 
locking  the  door.  And  the  next  day,  the  mother  went  in  as 
usual,  and  then  went  out  for  her  walk.  After  the  mother  liad 
gone,  the  daughter  said  again  to  herself,  "  No !  there  nmst  be 
something  special  about  that  room.  I  will  go  in  again  and 
make  a  search."  Looking  around  carefully,  she  noticed  a 
pretty  casket  on  a  table.  Opening  it,  she  saw  it  contained  a 
mirror.  There  was  something  strange  about  its  appearance, 
and  she  determined  to  examine  it.  While  she  was  doing  so, 
the  mirror  spoke,  and  said,  "  Oh,  maiden !  there  is  no  one 
as  beautiful  as  you  !  "  She  put  back  the  mirror  in  its  place, 
and  went  out,  carefully  fastening  the  door.  The  next  day, 
when  the  mother  went  as  usual  to  make  her  toilet  and  to  ask 
of  tlie  mirror  her  usual  question,  "  Is  there  another  as  beauti- 
ful as  I  ?  "  it  replied,  "  Yes,  mistress,  there  is  another  fairer 
than  you." 

So  she  went  out  of  the  room  much  displeased,  and,  sus- 
pecting her  daughter,  said  to  her,  "  Daughter,  have  you  been 
in  that  room?"  The  girl  said,  "No,  I  have  not."  But  the 
mother  insisted,  "  Yes,  you  have  ;  for  how  is  it  that  my  mir- 
ror tells  me  that  there  is  another  woman  more  beautiful  than 
I  ?     And  you  are  the  only  one  who  has  beauty  such  as  mine." 

During  all  these  years  the  mother  had  kept  the  daughter 
in  the  palace,  and  had  not  allowed  her  to  be  seen  in  public, 
as  she  dreaded  to  hear  any  one  but  herself  praised.  Then  tlie 
enraged  mother  sent  for  her  father's  soldiers,  and  delivering 
the  girl  to  them,  she  commanded,  "  You  just  go  out  into  the 
forest  and  kill  this  girl." 

They  obeyed  her  orders,  and  led  the  girl  away,  taking  with 
them  also  two  big  dogs.  When  they  reached  the  forest,  the 
soldiers  said  to  her,  "  Your  mother  told  us  to  kill  you.  But 
you  are  so  good  and  pretty  that  we  are  not  willing  to  do  it. 
You  just  go  your  way  and  wander  in  this  forest,  and  await 
wliat  may  happen." 

The  girl  went  her  way;  and  the  soldiers  killed  the  two 
dogs,  so  that  they  might  have  blood  on  their  swords  to  show  to 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  339 

the  mother.  Having  done  this,  they  went  back  to  her,  and 
said,  "  We  have  killed  the  girl ;  here  is  her  blood  on  our 
swords."     And  the  mother  was  satisfied. 

But  in  the  forest  the  girl  had  gone  on,  wandering  aim- 
lessly, till  she  happened  to  reach  what  seemed  a  hamlet 
having  only  one  house.  She  went  up  its  front  steps  and 
tried  the  door.  It  was  not  locked,  and  she  went  in.  She 
saw  or  heard  no  one,  but  she  noticed  that  the  house  was 
very  much  in  disorder  ;  so  she  began  to  arrange  it.  After 
sweeping  and  putting  everything  in  neat  order,  she  went 
upstairs  and  hid  herself  under  one  of  the  bedsteads. 

But  she  did  not  know  that  the  house  belonged  to  robbers 
who  spent  their  daj^s  in  stealing,  and  brought  their  plunder 
home  in  the  evening.  When  they  returned  that  day,  laden 
with  booty,  they  were  surprised  to  find  their  house  in  neat 
order  and  their  goods  arranged  in  piles.  In  their  wonder  they 
exclaimed,  "  Who  has  been  here  and  fixed  our  house  so 
nicely?  " 

So  they  prepared  their  food,  ate,  drank,  and  slept,  but 
they  did  not  clean  up  the  table  nor  wash  the  dishes. 

And  the  next  day  they  went  out  again  on  their  business  of 
stealing. 

After  they  were  gone,  the  girl,  hungry  and  frightened, 
crept  out  of  her  hiding-place,  and  cooked  and  ate  food  for 
herself.  Then,  as  on  the  first  day,  she  swept  the  floors  and 
washed  up  the  dishes.  And  then  she  cooked  a  meal  for  the 
men  to  have  it  ready  against  their  return  in  the  late  after- 
noon; and  again  she  occupied  herself  with  the  arrangement 
of  the  goods  in  the  rooms.  Then  she  went  back  to  her 
hiding-place. 

When  the  robbers  returned  that  day  and  laid  down  their 
booty,  they  were  again  surprised  to  find  not  only  their  house 
in  good  order,  but  food  ready  on  the  table.  And  they  won- 
dered, "Who  tloes  all  this  for  us?  " 

They  first  sat  down  to  eat;  and  then  they  said,  "Let  us 
look  around  and  find  out  who  does  all  this."  They  searched, 
but  they  found  no  one. 


340  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

The  next  day  tliey  armed  themselves  as  usual  to  go  out, 
leaving  the  table  and  their  recent  load  of  stealings  in 
disorder. 

When  they  had  gone,  the  girl  again  emerged  from  her 
hiding-place,  and,  as  before,  cooked,  ate,  washed  up,  swept, 
arranged,  and  prepared  the  evening  meal. 

Again  the  robbers,  on  their  return,  were  still  more  aston- 
ished, as  they  exclaimed,  "Whoever  does  this?  If  it  is  a 
woman,  then  we  will  take  her  as  our  sister.  She  shall  take 
care  of  our  house  and  our  goods,  but  none  of  us  shall  marry 
her ;  but  if  it  is  a  man,  he  must  be  compelled  to  join  in  our 
business." 

The  next  day,  when  they  were  all  going  out  on  their  ways, 
they  appointed  one  of  their  number  to  remain  behind,  hidden, 
who  should  watch,  and  thus  they  should  know  who  had  been 
helping  them. 

When  they  had  gone,  the  girl,  ignorant  that  one  had  been 
left  to  watch,  came  out  of  her  hiding,  and  began  to  do  as  on 
the  other  days.  When  she  went  outdoors  to  the  kitchen 
[kitchens  here  are  all  detached]  to  cook,  the  watcher  came  in 
sight.  She  was  frightened,  and  began  to  run  away;  but  he 
called  out,  "Don't  be  afraid!  Don't  run,  but  come  here! 
What  are  you  afraid  of?  You  are  not  doing  anything  bad, 
you  have  been  doing  us  only  good.  Come  here!"  She 
stood  and  said,  "I  was  afraid  you  would  kill  me!" 

He  came  to  her,  saying,  "What  a  beautiful  girl  to  look 
at!  When  did  you  come  here,  and  who  are  you?"  So 
she  told  him  her  story.  And  when  she  had  finished  all  the 
housework,  she  sat  down  with  this  man  to  await  the  coining 
of  the  others.  When  the  others  came  and  saw  the  two, 
they  said  to  him,  "So  you  found  her?"  He  replied  only, 
"Yes."  Looking  on  her,  they  exclaimed,  "Oh,  what  a  beau- 
tiful girl !  "  To  calm  her  excitement,  they  told  her,  "  Do  not 
be  alarmed!  you  are  to  be  our  sister." 

So  they  took  all  their  goods  and  put  them  in  her  care,  and 
herself  in  charge  of  the  house.  Thus  they  lived  for  some 
time,  —  they  stealing,  and  she  taking  care  for  them. 


FETICH   IN    FOLK-LORE  341 

But  one  day,  at  the  palace,  the  wicked  mother  began  to 
have  some  uneasy  doubts  wlietlier  her  soldiers  had  really 
obeyed  her  orders  to  kill  her  daughter,  and  thought,  "  Per- 
haps the  child  was  not  really  killed."  She  had  a  familiar 
servant,  an  old  woman,  very  friendly  to  her.  To  her  she 
revealed  her  story,  and  said,  "Please  go  out  and  spy  in 
every  town.  Look  whether  you  see  a  girl  who  is  very 
beautiful;  if  so,  she  is  my  daughter.  You  must  kill  her." 
The  old  woman  replied,  "  Yes,  my  friend,  I  will  do  this 
thing  for  you."     So  she  went  out  and  began  her  spying. 

The  very  first  place  at  which  she  happened  to  arrive  was 
the  robbers'  house.  There  being  no  people  in  sight,  she 
entered  the  house,  and  found  a  girl  alone.  On  account  of 
the  girl's  great  beauty,  she  felt  sure  at  once  that  this  was 
her  friend's  daughter.  The  girl  gave  her  a  seat  and  offered 
hospitality.  The  old  woman  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  what  a  nice- 
looking  child!  AYho  are  you,  and  who  is  your  mother?" 
The  girl,  not  suspecting  evil,  told  her  story. 

Then  the  old  woman  said,  "  Your  hair  looks  a  little  untidy. 
Come  here,  and  let  me  fix  it."  The  girl  consented;  and  the 
old  woman  began  to  braid  her  hair.  She  had  hidden  in  her 
sleeve  a  long  sharpened  nail.  When  she  had  completed  the 
hair-dressing,  she  thrust  the  nail  deeply  into  the  girl's  head, 
who  instantly  fell  down,  apparently  dead.  Looking  at  the 
limp  body,  the  old  woman  said  to  herself,  "  Good  for  that ! 
I  have  done  it  for  my  friend."  And  she  went  away,  leaving 
tlie  corpse  lying  there,  and  reported  to  the  mother  what  she  had 
done.     The  mother  felt  sure  her  friend  had  not  deceived  her. 

When  the  robbers  returned  that  day,  they  found  the  girl 
lying  dead.  They  were  very  much  troubled.  They  began 
to  examine  the  corpse,  to  find  what  was  the  cause  of  death, 
but  they  found  no  sign  of  'any  wound ;  and  instead  of  the 
corpse  being  rigid,  it  was  limp;  there  was  persjjiration  on 
the  head  and  neck.  So  they  decided,  "  This  nice  life-look- 
ing face  we  will  not  put  in  a  grave."  So  they  made  a 
handsome  casket,  overlaid  it  with  gold,  and  adorned  the 
body  with  a  profusion  of  gold  ornaments.     They  did  not  nail 


342  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

on  the  lid,  but  made  it  to  slide  in  grooves.  Supposing  the 
body  liable  to  decay,  they  placed  the  coffin  outdoors  in  the 
air;  and  to  keep  it  out  of  the  reach  of  any  animals,  they 
hung  it  by  the  halliards  of  their  flag-staff.  Every  day,  on 
their  going  out  and  on  their  return,  they  pulled  it  down  by 
the  halliards,  drew  out  the  lid,  and  looked  on  the  fresh, 
apparently  living  face  of  their  "sister." 

One  day  while  they  were  all  out  on  their  business  there 
happened  to  stray  that  way  a  man  by  name  Eserengila  (tale- 
bearer), who  lived  at  the  town  of  a  man  named  Ogula.  Com- 
ing to  the  robbers'  house,  he  saw  no  one;  but  he  at  once 
observed  the  hanging  golden  box.  Exclaiming,  "What  a 
nice  thing !  "  he  hasted  back  to  his  master  Ogula,  and  called 
him.  "Come  and  see  what  a  nice  thing  I  have  found;  it  is 
something  worth  taking!  "  So  Ogula  went  with  him,  and 
Esergngila  pulled  down  the  gilded  box  from  the  flag-staff. 
They  did  not  enter  the  house,  nor  did  they  know  anything 
of  its  character;  and  they  carried  away  the  box  in  haste, 
without  looking  at  its  contents,  to  Ogula's,  and  put  it  in  a 
small  room  in  his  house. 

Some  days  after  it  had  been  placed  there  Ogula  went  in 
to  examine  what  it  contained.  He  saw  that  the  top  of  this 
coffin-like  box  was  not  nailed,  but  slid  in  a  groove.  He 
withdrew  it,  and  was  amazed  to  see  a  beautiful  young 
woman  apparently  dead.  Yet  there  was  no  look  or  odor  of 
death.  As  she  was  not  emaciated  by  disease,  he  examined 
the  body  to  find  a  possible  cause  of  death ;  but  he  found  no 
sign,  and  wondering,  exclaimed,  "  This  beautiful  girl !  What 
has  caused  her  to  die  ?  " 

He  replaced  the  lid,  and  left  the  room,  carefully  closing 
the  door.  But  he  again  returned  to  look  at  the  beautiful 
face  of  the  corpse ;  and  sighed,  "  Oh,  I  wish  this  beautiful 
being  were  alive!  She  would  be  such  a  nice  playmate  for 
my  daughter,  who  is  just  about  her  size."  Again  he  went 
and  shut  the  door  very  carefully.  He  told  his  daughter 
never  to  enter  that  room,  and  she  said,  "Yes";  and  he 
continued  his  daily  visits  there. 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  343 

After  many  days  Ogula's  daughter  became  tired  of  seeing 
him  enter  while  slie  was  forljiddcni.  So  one  day,  when  he 
was  gone  out  of  the  house,  she  said  to  herself,  "My  father 
always  forbids  me  this  room ;  now  I  will  go  in  and  see  what 
he  has  there."  She  entered,  and  saw  only  the  gilded  box, 
and  exclaimed,  "Oh,  what  a  nice  box!  I'll  just  open  it  and 
see  what  is  inside." 

She  began  to  draw  the  lid  out  of  its  grooves,  and  a  human 
head  was  revealed  with  a  splendid  mass  of  hair  covered  with 
gold  ornaments.  She  withdrew  the  lid  entirely,  and  saw  the 
form  of  the  young  woman,  and  delightedly  said,  "  A  beautiful 
girl,  with  such  nice  hair,  and  covered  with  golden  ornaments !  " 
She  did  not  know  why  the  girl  seemed  so  unconscious,  and 
began  to  say,  "  I  wish  she  could  speak  to  me,  so  we  might  be 
friends,  because  she  is  only  a  little  larger  than  I."  So  she 
gave  the  stranger's  salutation,  "Mbolo!  mbolo!  "  As  no  re- 
sponse was  made,  she  protested,  "  Oh,  I  salute  you,  mbolo, 
but  you  do  not  answer!  "  She  was  disappointed,  and  slid 
back  the  cover,  and  went  out  of  the  room.  Something  about 
the  door  aroused  the  suspicions  of  her  father  on  his  return 
to  the  house,  and  he  asked  her,  "  Have  you  been  inside  that 
room?"  She  answered,  "No!  You  told  me  never  to  go 
there,  and  I  have  not  gone."  Next  day  Ogula  went  out 
again,  and  his  daughter  thought  she  would  have  another 
look  at  the  beautiful  face.  Entering  the  room,  she  again 
drew  out  the  lid,  and  again  she  gave  the  salutation, 
"Mbolo!"  There  was  no  response.  Again  she  protested, 
"Oh,  I  speak  to  you,  and  you  won't  answer  me!"  And 
then  she  added,  "  May  I  play  with  you,  and  fondle  your 
head,  and  feel  your  hair?  Perhaps  you  have  lice  for  me 
to  remove  ? "  [one  of  the  commonest  of  native  African 
friendly  services  among  both  men  and  women].  She  began 
to  feel  through  the  hair  with  her  fingers,  and  presently  she 
touched  something  hard.  Looking  closely,  she  found  it  was 
the  head  of  a  nail.  Astonished,  she  said,  "  Oh,  she  has  a 
nail  in  her  head!     I'll  try  to  pull  it  out!" 

Instantly,  on  her  doing  so,   the  girl  sneezed,  opened  her 


344  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

eyes,  stared  around,  rose  up  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  said, 
"Oh,  I  must  have  been  sleeping  a  long  time."  The  other 
asked,  "You  were  only  sleeping?"  And  the  girl  replied, 
"Yes."  Then  Ogula's  daughter  saluted,  "Mbolo!  "  and  the 
girl  responded,  "Ai,  Mbolo  I  "  and  the  other,  "Ai!  " 

Then  the  girl  asked,  "  Where  am  I  ?  What  place  is  this  ?  " 
The  other  said,  "  Why,  you  are  in  my  father's  house.  This 
is  my  father's  house."  And  the  girl  asked,  "But  who  or 
what  brought  me  here  ?  "  Then  Ogula's  daughter  told  her 
the  whole  story  of  Eserengila's  having  found  the  gilded  box. 
They  at  once  conceived  a  great  liking  for  each  other,  and 
started  to  be  friends.  They  played  and  laughed  and  talked 
and  embraced,  and  fondled  each  other.  This  they  did  for 
quite  a  while. 

Then  the  beautiful  one  was  tired,  and  she  said,  "It  is 
better  that  you  put  back  the  nail  and  let  me  sleep  again." 
So  the  girl  lay  down  in  the  box,  the  nail  was  inserted  in 
her  head,  and  she  instantly  fell  into  unconsciousness. 

Ogula's  daughter  slid  back  the  lid,  and  went  out  of  the 
room,  carefully  closing  the  door.  She  now  lost  all  desire 
to  go  out  of  the  house  and  play  with  her  former  companions. 
Her  father  observed  this,  and  urged  her  to  play  and  visit 
as  she  formerly  had  done.  But  she  declined,  making  some 
excuses,  and  saying  she  had  no  wish  to  do  so.  All  her  in- 
terest lay  in  that  room  of  the  gilded  box  and  beautiful  girl. 
Whenever  her  father  went  out,  she  at  once  would  go  to  the 
room,  draw  out  the  lid,  and  pull  out  the  nail;  her  friend 
would  sit  up,  and  they  would  play,  and  repeat  their  friend- 
ship. Ogula's  daughter,  seeing  that  her  friend's  desire  for 
sleep  was  weakness  for  want  of  food,  dail}'  brought  her  food. 
And  the  girl  grew  strong  and  well  and  happy. 

This  was  kept  up  many  days  without  Ogula  knowing 
of  it. 

But  it  happened  one  day,  when  the  two  girls  were  thus 
sitting  in  their  friendship,  they  continued  their  play  and  con- 
versation so  long  that  Ogula's  daughter  forgot  the  time  of 
her  father's  return ;  and  he  suddenly  entered  the  room,  and 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  345 

was  surprised  to  see  the  two  girls  talking.  She  was  fright- 
ened when  she  saw  her  father.  But  he  was  not  angry,  and 
quieted  her,  saying,  "  Do  not  be  afraid !  How  is  it  that  you 
have  been  able  to  bring  this  girl  to  life?  What  have  you 
done?" 

She  told  her  father  all  about  it,  especially  of  the  nail. 
Then  Ogula  sat  down  by  the  girl  of  the  gilded  box,  and 
asked  the  story  of  her  life.  She  told  him  all.  Then  he 
said,  "As  your  mother  is  the  kind  of  woman  that  sends 
people  to  kill,  and  I  am  chief  in  this  place,  I  will  investi- 
gate this  matter  to-morrow.  I  will  call  all  the  people  of 
this  region,  and  there  will  be  an  ozaza  (palaver)  in  the  morn- 
ing; and  you  shall  remain,  for  you  are  to  be  my  wife." 

The  next  da}"  all  the  country  side  were  called,  —  the 
wicked  mother,  the  soldiers,  the  old  woman,  and  everybody 
else  (except  the  unknown  robbers).  The  palaver  was  talked 
from  point  to  point  of  the  history,  and,  just  at  the  last,  this 
beautiful  girl  walked  into  the  assemblage,  accompanied  by 
Ogula's  daughter. 

As  soon  as  INIaria  saAV  her  daughter  enter,  she  started  from 
her  seat,  looked  at  the  old  woman,  and  fiercely  said  to  her, 
"Here  is  this  girl  again!  not  dead  yet!  I  thought  you  killed 
her!  "  The  old  woman  was  amazed,  but  asserted,  "Yes,  and 
I  did.     I  kept  my  promise  to  you !  " 

Then  the  girl  sat  down,  and  Ogula  bade  her  tell  her  entire 
story  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people.  So  she  told  from  the 
very  beginning,  —  about  the  magic  looking-glass,  about  the 
soldiers,  about  the  robbers'  house,  and  on  till  the  stay  in 
Ogula's  house. 

Then  all  the  people  began  to  shout  and  deride  and  revile, 
and  threaten  Maria  and  the  old  woman.  This  frightened  the 
cruel  Maria  and  her  wicked  friend,  and  they  ran  away  to  a 
far  country,  and  never  came  back  again. 

So  the  beautiful  young  woman  was  married  to  Ogula,  and 
was  happy  with  his  daughter  as  a  companion. 

But  the  robbers,  in  their  secret  house,  not  having  heard 
of  the  ozaza,  kept  on  mourning  and  grieving  for  their  lost 


346  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

sister,  not  knowing  where  she  had  gone  or  what  had  become 
of  her.     And  so  the  story  ends. 

(The  above  story  is  probably  not  more  than  two  hundred 
or  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  old;  the  name  "Maria  "  doubt- 
less being  derived  from  Portuguese  occupants  of  the  Kongo 
country.) 

III.   The  Husband  who  Came  fkom  an  Animal. 

Ra-Nyambie  in  his  great  town  had  his  wives  and  sons  and 
daughters,  and  lived  in  glory. 

He  had  a  best-beloved  daughter,  by  name  Ilambe.  There  is 
a  certain  fetich  charm  called  "ngalo,"  by  means  of  which  its 
possessor  can  have  gratified  any  wish  he  may  express.  Ngalo 
is  not  obtainable  by  purchase  or  art;  only  certain  persons  are 
born  with  it.  This  Ilambe  was  born  with  a  ngalo.  While 
she  was  growing  up,  her  father  made  a  great  deal  of  her  and 
gave  her  very  many  things,  —  servants  and  houses,  accord- 
ing to  her  wishes.  When  Ilambe  had  grown  up  to  woman- 
hood, she  said,  "  Father,  I  will  not  like  a  man  who  has  other 
wives.  I  shall  want  my  husband  all  for  myself."  And  the 
father  said,  "Be  it  so." 

As  years  went  on,  Ilambe  thought  it  was  time  she  should 
be  married,  but  she  saw  no  one  who  pleased  her  fancy.  So 
she  took  counsel  with  her  ngalo,  thinking,  "  What  shall  I  do 
to  get  a  husband  for  myself?  " 

She  decided  on  a  plan.  Her  father's  people  often  went 
out  hunting.  One  day,  when  they  were  going  out,  she  said 
to  them,  "If  you  find  some  small  animal,  do  not  kill  it,  but 
bring  it  to  me  alive." 

So  they  went  out  hunting,  and  they  found  a  small  animal 
resembling  a  goat,  called  "mbinde"  (wild  goat).  They 
brought  it  to  her,  asking  pardon  for  its  smallness,  and  said, 
"We  did  not  find  anything,  only  this  mbinde."  She  took 
it,  saying,  "It  is  good."  Then  turning  to  one  of  the  men, 
she  bade  him,  "Just  skin  this  very  carefully  for  me";  and 
to  another  of  the  servants,  "  Bring  me  plenty  of  water,  and 


FETICH   IN   P^OLK-LORE  347 

put  it  in  my  bathroom  for  a  bath."  Each  of  these  servants 
did  as  he  was  bidden,  —  this  one  flaying  the  animal,  that 
one  bringing  the  water.  When  the  one  had  finished  flaying, 
and  brought  the  entire  flesh  to  her,  she  said,  "Just  put  it 
into  this  water  for  a  bath."  She  left  it  there  two  days,  soak- 
ing in  the  water.  The  skin  she  put  in  a  fire,  burned  it  to 
black  ashes,  and  carefully  saved  all  the  ash.  This  she  did 
not  do  herself,  but  told  a  servant  to  do  it,  cautioning  him  to 
lose  none  of  it.  When  it  was  brought  to  her,  she  wraj^ped 
it  up  with  care,  and  put  it  safely  away  so  that  none  of  it 
should  be  lost. 

On  the  third  day  she  spoke  to  her  ngalo,  "Ngalo  mine, 
ngalo  mine,  I  tell  you,  turn  this  mbinde  to  a  very  handsome- 
looking  man!  "  Instantly  the  mbinde  was  changed  to  a  finely 
formed  man,  who  jumped  out  of  the  bath-tub,  dressed  very 
richly. 

Then  Ilambe  called  one  of  her  servants,  and  bade,  "  Go 
to  ray  father,  and  tell  him  I  wish  the  town  to  be  cleaned  as 
thoroughly  and  quickly  as  possible,  because  I  have  a  hus- 
band, and  I  want  to  come  and  show  him  to  you ;  so  my  father 
must  be  ready  to  greet  us." 

The  father  summoned  his  servant  Ompunga  (Wind),  who 
came,  and  at  once  swept  up  the  place  clean. 

Ilambe  went  out  from  her  house  with  her  husband,  he  and 
she  walking  side  by  side  through  the  street  on  the  way 
to  her  father's  house.  All  along  their  route  the  people 
were  wondering  at  the  man's  fine  appearance,  and  shouting, 
"Where  did  Ilambe  get  this  man?"  When  she  reached  her 
father's  house,  he  ordered  a  salute  of  cannon  for  her.  He 
was  much  pleased  to  see  the  man  with  the  crowd  of  people, 
and  received  him  with  respect. 

Having  thus  visited  her  father,  Ilambe  returned  to  her 
own  house  with  her  husband,  the  people  still  shouting  in 
admiration  of  him.  The  news  spread  everywhere  about 
Ilambe 's  fine-looking  husband,  and  there  was  great  praise  of 
them.  They  lived  happily  in  their  marriage  for  a  while,  but 
trouble  came. 


348  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Ilambe  had  a  younger  sister  living  still  at  her  father's 
house.  One  day  Ilambe  changed  her  mind  about  having  a 
husband  all  to  herself,  and  thought,  "I  better  share  him  with 
my  younger  sister."  So  she  went  out  to  her  father  to  tell 
him  about  it,  saying,  "  Father,  I  've  changed  my  mind.  I 
want  my  younger  sister  to  live  with  me,  and  marry  the  same 
man  with  me." 

Her  father,  though  himself  having  many  wives,  said,  "  You 
now  change  your  mind,  and  are  willing  to  share  your  hus- 
band with  another  woman.  Will  there  be  no  trouble  in  the 
future?"  She  answered  "No!  "  He  repeated  his  question; 
but  she  assured  him  it  would  be  agreeable.  So  she  took  her 
sister  (without  consulting  the  husband,  as  he  was  under  her 
control,  by  power  of  her  ngalo),  led  her  to  her  house,  and 
presented  her  as  a  new  wife  to  her  husband. 

They  remained  on  these  terms  for  some  time  without  any 
trouble.  But  as  time  went  on,  the  report  about  that  hand- 
some man  went  far,  and  finally  reached  Ra-Mborakinda's 
town.  Another  woman  lived  there,  also  named  Ilambe,  of  the 
same  age  as  the  other,  and  she  was  unmarried.  This  Ilambe 
said  to  herself,  "  I  am  tired  of  hearing  the  report  about  this 
handsome  man.  I  will  go,  though  uninvited  I  be,  and  see 
for  myself."  So  she  tells  her  brother  and  some  of  his  men, 
"  Take  me  over  there  to  that  town,  and  I  will  return  to-day." 
She  told  her  father  the  same  words:  "I  am  going  to  see  that 
man,  and  will  return."  When  this  Ilambe  got  to  the  other 
Ilambe 's  house,  the  husband  was  out,  but  the  wife  received 
her  with  great  hospitality;  and  the  two  sisters  and  their 
visitor  all  ate  together.  Soon  the  husband  came,  and  the 
wife  introduced  the  visitor.  "Here  is  my  friend  Ilambe 
come  to  see  you."  "Good,"  he  said.  Then  it  was  late  in 
the  day,  and  the  visiting  Ilambe's  attendants  said  to  her, 
"The  day  is  past;  let  us  be  going."  But  she  refused  to  go, 
and  told  them  to  return,  saying  that  she  would  stay  awhile 
with  her  friend  Ilambe. 

But  really,  in  her  coming  she  was  not  simply  a  visitor  and 
sightseer;    she  intended  to  stay  and  share  in  the  husband. 


FETICH  IN   FOLK-LORE  349 

As  her  brother  was  leaving,  he  asked,  "  But  when  will  you 
return?  and  shall  we  come  for  you?"  She  said,  "No;  I 
myself  will  come  back  when  I  please."  When  the  even- 
ing came,  the  hostess  began  to  fix  a  sleeping-place  for  her 
visitor,  shoAving  her  much  kindness  in  the  care  of  her 
arrangements. 

The  second  day  the  hostess  observed  something  suspicious 
in  the  manner  with  which  her  husband  regarded  the  visitor ; 
he  said  to  his  wife,  "Here  is  your  friend.  Speak  to  her 
for  me.  Are  you  willing  to  do  that?"  She  looked  at  him 
steadily,  and  slowly  said,  "Yes."  So  at  evening  she  spoke 
of  the  matter  to  her  visitor,  who  at  once  assented. 

When  Ilambe  parted  with  her  husband  before  retiring,  she 
said  to  him,  "  Go  with  this  new  woman,  but  do  not  forget 
your  and  my  morning  custom."  [That  was  their  habit  of 
rising  very  early  for  a  morning  bath.]  He  only  said,  "Yes." 
They  all  retired  for  the  night. 

The  next  morning  the  hostess  was  up  early  as  usual,  and 
had  her  bath,  and  was  out  of  her  room,  waiting.  But  the 
man  was  not  up  yet,  nor  were  there  any  sounds  of  prepara- 
tion in  his  room.  So  Ilambe,  after  waiting  awhile,  had  to 
call  to  waken  him.  He  woke,  saying,  "Oh,  yes,  yes,  I'm 
coming!  " 

The  next  day  it  was  the  same,  he  staying  with  the  new 
Ilambe  and  rising  late  in  the  morning.  The  fourth  day  his 
wife  said  to  him,  "  You  have  work  to  do,  and  you  do  not  get 
up  to  do  it  till  late."  He  was  displeased  at  her  fault-finding. 
When  she  saw  that,  she  also  was  displeased. 

So  when  he  went  to  the  bathroom  she  followed  him  there. 
On  the  way  she  had  secretly  taken  with  her  the  roll  of  black 
powder  she  had  kept  from  the  day  of  his  creation. 

While  he  was  bathing,  she  turned  aside,  without  his  no- 
ticing it,  and  opening  the  roll  of  the  powder,  took  out  of  it  a 
little,  and  held  it  between  her  finger  and  thumb. 

While  he  was  dressing,  she  came  near,  stooped  down,  and 
rubbed  the  powder  on  his  feet.  They  suddenly  turned  to 
hoofs.     He  began  stamping  his  hoofs  on  the  floor,  surprised, 


350  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

and  saying,  "Wife,  what  is  this?"  She  said,  "It  is  noth- 
ing. You  have  finished  dressing.  Go  out."  He  began  to 
plead;  she  relented,  and  by  her  ngalo's  pow.er  changed  the 
hoofs  back  to  feet.  They  both  went  out  of  the  room  and  had 
their  breakfast,  and  that  day  passed.  But  at  night  he  again 
abandoned  his  wife  for  the  new  Ilambe,  and  next  morning 
he  was  up  later  even  than  on  the  previous  days.  He  had  to 
be  called  several  times  before  he  would  awake.  He  began  to 
grumble  and  scold,  "  Can't  a  person  be  left  to  sleep  as  long 
as  he  desires?"  And  when  he  and  the  new  Ilambe  came 
from  that  bedroom,  she  joined  in  the  man's  displeasure  at  his 
having  been  disturbed.  He  went  for  his  bath.  The  wife 
followed,  and  used  the  powder  as  she  had  done  the  day 
before,  turning  his  feet  to  hoofs.  He  begged  and  pleaded. 
She  again  forgave  him,  and  fixed  the  feet  again.  And  they 
two  came  out  of  the  bathroom  and  had  their  breakfast  as 
usual.  He  went  to  his  work,  and  the  day  wore  on.  At 
night  he  again  deserted  his  wife.  The  next  morning  there 
was  the  same  confusion  in  arousing  him  as  on  the  other  days. 

His  wife  accompanied  him  to  the  bathroom  as  usual. 
While  he  was  in  the  bath,  and  before  he  was  done  bathing, 
she  left  the  room,  and  told  the  new  Ilambe,  "  You  sit  down 
near  the  bathroom  door.  You  will  see  him  come  out."  The 
visitor  replied,  "  It  is  well  " ;  and  she  sat  down.  And  Ilambe 
went  into  the  bathroom  again. 

When  the  man  got  out  of  his  bath,  as  soon  as  he  attempted 
to  dress  himself,  Ilambe,  without  saying  anything  or  making 
any  complaint,  went  behind  him,  and  having  the  whole  roll 
of  powder  with  her,  she  opened  the  bundle,  flung  it  on  his 
back,  and  said,  "  You  go  back  to  where  you  came  from !  " 
Instantly  he  was  changed  to  a  mbinde,  and  he  began  to  leap 
about  as  a  goat.  Then  Ilambe  cried  out  to  the  other  Ilambe 
at  the  door,  "Are  you  ready  to  receive  him?  He  's  coming!  " 
and  she  opened  the  door.  Out  ran  the  mbinde,  leaped  from  the 
house,  dashed  through  the  town  and  off  to  the  forest,  the  people 
shouting  in  derision,  "Ha!  ha!  ha!  So,  indeed,  that  handsome 
man  was  the  mbinde  that  was  taken  to  Ilambe's  house!  " 


FETICH   IN  FOLK-LORE  851 

Then  the  wife  said  to  the  other  Ilambe,  "  Did  you  see  your 
man?  Call  him!  That's  he  running  off  there!"  The  next 
day  Ilambe  said  to  the  visitor,  "  Send  word  for  your  people 
that  they  may  come  for  you." 

Tlie  following  day  they  were  sent  for,  and  they  came  to 
Ilambe's  house.  After  they  had  arrived,  Ilambe  sent  word 
to  her  father,  "Have  your  place  cleaned,  I  am  coming  to 
enter  a  complaint."  The  father  replied,  "Very  well!" 
Ompunga  came  and  swept  the  place.  Seats  were  prepared 
in  the  street.  Ilambe  summoned  the  visitor  and  her  people, 
saying,  "Let  us  all  go  to  my  father's  house." 

So  they  went  there,  and  Ilambe  made  her  complaint,  tell- 
ing all  from  the  beginning:  how  she  obtained  a  husband; 
how  the  other  Ilambe  had  come;  how  she  received  her 
kindly;  how  she  even  had  been  willing  to  share  her  hus- 
band with  her,  but  how  the  new  Ilambe  had  monopolized 
instead  of  simply  sharing;  and  how  things  had  become  so 
bad  that  she  had  to  send  the  man  back  to  his  beast  origin. 
Turning  to  the  visiting  people,  she  said,  "I  have  nothing 
more  to  say  except  that  your  sister  Ilambe  is  not  going 
back  to  your  town,  but  has  to  be  my  slave  all  the  days  of 
my  life." 

So  the  king's  council  justified  her,  and  pronounced  the 
judgment  just.  The  people  scattered  to  their  homes.  And 
the  two  sisters  went  to  their  house,  with  the  other  Ilambe 
as  their  slave. 

IV.     The  Fairy  Wife. 

In  his  great  town.  King  Ra-Mborakinda,  or  Ra-Nyambie, 
lived  in  glory  with  all  his  wives  and  sons  and  daughters. 
Some  of  his  great  and  favored  sons  had  large  business  and 
great  wealth.  But  there  was  one  of  the  sons,  named  Nkombe, 
whose  mother  was  not  a  favorite  wife  of  the  king,  so  this 
Nkombe  was  poor.  Everything  went  against  him,  and  his 
life  was  quite  miserable;  only,  he  had  a  gun,  and  he  knew 
how  to  shoot;  that  was  all.  So  he  thought,  "I  'm  tired  of 
this  kind  of  life.     I  better  leave  and  go  off  by  myself." 


352  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

He  gathered  together  the  few  things  that  belonged  to  him, 

—  a  few  plates  and  pots,  and  his  gun  and  ammunition,  — 
and  went  away.  He  went  far  into  the  forest,  and  with  his 
machete  began  to  clear  a  little  place  for  a  camping-ground 
(olako). 

He  fixed  up  his  camp,  and  next  morning  went  out  hunt- 
ing. When  he  began  to  feel  hungry,  he  turned  back  to 
cook  his  food.  On  his  return  he  had  fresh  meat  with  him; 
this  he  cooked,  set  it  on  the  table,  and  ate.  After  eating, 
he  cleared  off  the  table,  washed  the  dishes,  brushed  up  the 
floor,  and  the  new  meat  that  was  left  he  put  on  the  orala 
(drying-frame)  for  next  day's  use.  So  that  day's  work  was 
done. 

Next  day  he  again  leaves  the  camp,  and  with  his  gun  is  off 
again  to  his  hunting.     At  noon  he  comes  back  with  his  meat, 

—  antelope,  or  wild  pig,  or  whatever  it  may  be.  He  cooks 
his  food,  eats ;  and  that  day's  work  is  done  jusfe  as  the  day 
before. 

So  he  did  many  days.  After  each  day's  work  he  was  so  tired 
and  felt  so  lonely  he  wished  he  had  a  mother  or  some  one  to 
do  for  him. 

Unknown  to  him,  since  he  had  come  to  that  olako,  there 
was  a  woman  named  Ilambe,  who  belonged  to  the  awiri 
(fairies),  who  secretly  had  observed  all  that  he  did.  One 
day  she  thought  to  herself,  "  Oh,  I  am  sorry  for  this 
man;  I  think  that  as  I  have  the  power  I  will  turn  myself 
into  a  human  being  and  help  him,  for  I  do  not  like  to  see 
him  suffer."  So  she  said  to  herself,  "To-day  I  will  cause 
Nkombe  to  be  unsuccessful,  so  that  he  shall  kill  only  ntori 
(a  big  forest  rat),  and  I  will  hide  myself  in  ntori." 

So  Nkombe  hunted  long  and  far  that  day,  and  saw  nothing 
worthy  of  being  shot.  He  was  getting  hungry,  and  mur- 
mured, "Ah!  I  have  not  been  able  to  kill  anything  to-day." 
But  presently  he  saw  ntori  pass  by,  and  he  said,  "  Well,  I  '11 
have  to  take  this  small  animal,  ntori!  "  He  shot  it,  and  took 
it  with  him  to  his  camp.  When  he  reached  the  olako,  as  he 
had  other  meat  on  the  orala,  and  was  in  a  hurry,  after  singe- 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  353 

ing  and  cleaning  ntori,  he  tlirew  it  on  the  orala,  and  took  tlie 
older  dried  meat,  and  hegan  to  cook  it  for  his  supper.  He 
went  on  with  his  usual  day's  work,  as  it  took  only  a  little 
while  to  arrange  ntori  on  the  orala. 

Next  day  he  went  out  as  usual  on  his  hunting  journey. 
While  he  was  away,  and  before  he  returned,  Ilamhe  had  crept 
out  of  the  head  of  ntori.  She  brushed  up  the  camp,  and 
made  everything  neat  and  clean.  She  began  to  cook,  taking 
meat  from  the  drying-frame.  She  cooked  it  very  nicely,  and 
ate  part,  —  her  share,  just  enough  to  satisfy  her  appetite. 
Then  she  crept  back  into  ntori's  head,  as  she  knew  Nkombe 
must  be  about  starting  back. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  Nkombe  returned  with  some  wild 
meat.  He  took  down  dried  meat  from  the  orala,  leaving 
his  fresh  meat  unattended  to,  for  he  was  in  a  hurry  to 
cook,  being  hungry.  He  went  to  his  little  hut  to  get  plate, 
kettle,  and  so  forth.  To  his  surprise,  on  the  table  was 
everything  ready,  food  and  plate  and  drink.  He  ex- 
claimed, "  What  word  is  this  ?  Where  did  this  come  from  ? 
Is  this  the  work  of  my  mother's  spirit?  She  has  pitied  me 
and  has  come  and  done  this.  I  wish  I  knew  where  she  came 
from. " 

This  occurred  during  three  successive  days,  just  the  same 
each  day.  Nkombe  was  puzzled.  He  wanted  to  find  out, 
and  decided  to  go  to  the  great  prophet,  Ra-Marange.  The 
prophet  saw  him  coming,  and  greeted  him,  "Sale!  (Hail) 
my  son,  sale!"  "Mbolo,"  replied  Nkombe.  Ra-Marange 
continued,  "What  did  you  come  for?  What  are  you 
doing?"  "I  come  for  you  to  make  medicine,  that  you 
may  prophesy  for  me  about  a  matter  I  want  to  find  out." 

Ra-Marange  said,  "Child,  I  am  old,  and  do  not  do  such 
things  now.  I  have  given  the  power  to  Ogula-ya-impazya- 
vazya "  [so  called  because  his  body  was  all-covered-by-a- 
disease-of-pimples].  "Well,  where  shall  I  go  to  him?" 
The  prophet  replied,   "He  is  not  far." 

Nkombe  starts  to  go  to  Ogula-ya-impazya-vazya,  who  pres- 
ently sees  him  coming.     As  soon  as  Nkombe  reached  him, 

23 


354  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Ogula-ya-impazya-vazya  said,  "  If  you  come  to  me  for  medi- 
cine, good,  for  that  is  my  only  business ;  but  if  for  anything 
else,  clear  off!  "     "Yes,  that  is  what  I  came  for." 

So  Ogula-ya-impazya-vazya  began  to  kindle  his  big  fire. 
Nkombe  was  surprised,  not  knowing  what  was  to  be  done 
with  the  fire.  The  next  minute  he  sees  Ogula-ya-impazya- 
vazya  throw  himself  into  the  flames.  Nkombe  was  startled 
and  afraid,  thinking,  "Is  this  man  going  to  kill  himself  for 
me  ?  "  The  prophet  rolled  himself  several  times  in  the  fire 
in  order  to  get  the  power.  Some  of  his  pimples  on  his  body 
burst  in  the  flame ;  and  he  jumped  out,  ready  with  his  power 
to  do  the  medicine.  He  said,  "  Hah,  repeat  your  story ;  I  am 
ready !  "  Nkombe  told  all  his  story,  —  how  he  had  worked 
for  himself,  and  how  for  a  few  days  past  he  had  been  helped 
by  some  one,  and  wanted  to  know  who  it  was,  if  Ogula-ya- 
impazya-vazya  would  please  tell  him.  "  Hah,  that 's  a  small 
matter  for  me !  "  So  the  prophet  told  him,  "  You  killed  ntori 
for  yourself  a  few  days  ago,  and  this  being  is  a  woman  who 
has  come  to  be  your  wife,  and  has  hidden  herself  in  ntori." 
"But,"  said  Nkombe,  "how  shall  I  be  able  to  catch  her,  so 
that  she  shall  be  a  real  woman,  for  I  do  not  see  her?" 

"I  '11  let  you  know  how.  Go  back  and  hunt  all  the  same 
for  three  days.  On  the  fourth  day  go  out  as  usual,  but  do 
not  go  hunting.  Hide  near  the  olako, —  near,  but  not  where 
you  will  be  seen."  Then  the  prophet  gave  Nkombe  a  pre- 
pared powder,  and  told  him  to  keep  it  carefully.  He  gave 
him  also  a  small  cornucopia  (ozyoto)  full  of  a  bruised  medi- 
cinal leaf,  and  told  him,  "  Go  and  put  these  two  medicines  in 
a  secret  place  near  your  olako.  On  the  fourth  day  have  these 
two  medicines  with  you  where  you  hide.  When  you  see  her 
come  out,  and  while  she  is  doing  your  work,  you  will  run 
and  seize  her,  and  say  to  her,  "You  are  my  wife."  She 
will  not  understand  your  language,  and  will  murmur  and 
shake  her  head  and  resist.  But  when  you  hold  her  fast, 
sprinkle  the  powder  all  over  her  body.  Then  take  the  ozoto, 
and  squeeze  some  of  the  juice  in  her  nostrils,  eyes,  and 
mouth.     She  will  begin  to  sneeze.     Repeat  the  words,  'You 


FETICH   IN    FOLK-LORE  355 

are  my  wife,  my  wife!  '  Then  she  will  understand  you,  and 
will  yield." 

So  Nkombe  took  the  medicines,  and  obeyed  directions ;  hid 
the  medicines  and  hunted  the  three  days,  his  heart  bursting 
with  anxiety  to  get  the  days  done  that  seemed  so  long.  At 
last  the  three  days  were  over  and  the  fourth  day  came. 

Now  the  woman,  by  the  power  that  was  with  her,  knew 
all  these  things ;  she  knew  she  would  be  caught  that  day. 

After  Nkombe  had  left  in  the  morning  with  the  medicines, 
had  hidden  himself,  and  was  waiting  for  the  hours  to 
pass,  the  woman,  hesitating  on  her  fate,  did  not  come  out 
quickly  as  on  the  other  days.  But  finally  Nkombe  saw  the 
pieces  of  meat  on  the  frames  shake.  And  out  of  ntori's 
head  came  a  beautiful  woman  with  clean  soft  skin.  He 
could  hardly  restrain  himself.  She  went  on  with  all  the 
usual  work,  —  cooking,  and  so  forth.  But  that  day  she  did 
not  divide  nor  partake  of  the  food,  but  put  all  of  it  on  the 
table.  When  he  saw  she  had  finished,  and  was  washing  her 
hands  preparatory  to  jumping  back  into  ntori  on  the  orala, 
he  came  out  of  the  bushes,  and  stepping  cautiously  but 
rapidly,  rushed  to  seize  her.  He  caught  her.  She  be- 
gan to  resist,  and  he  followed  the  prophet's  directions. 
The  woman  at  first  was  murmuring  and  sobbing,  and  Nkombe 
was  trying  to  calm  her  with  the  words  "My  wife."  Finally, 
under  the  powder,  she  quieted.  When  the  juice  was  dropped 
into  her  mouth,  she  was  able  to  speak  his  language.  She  told 
him  all  her  story, —  how  she  had  pitied  him,  and  had  entered 
into  ntori,  and  everything  else.  "  But, "  she  said,  "  there  is 
one  more  thing  I  must  tell  you.  I  have  come  indeed  to  be 
your  wife,  and  I  have  the  power  to  make  you  rich  or  poor, 
happy  or  unhappy.  I  will  give  you  only  one  rule:  Be  good 
to  me,  and  I  will  be  so  to  you;  but  never  say  to  me  that  I 
came  from  the  low  origin  of  a  rat's  head."  Nkombe  ex- 
claimed, "No,  no!  You  have  done  so  much  for  me,  I  could 
never  so  humiliate  you."  "You  speak  well,  but  be  very 
careful  not  to  break  your  promise."  So  they  ate  and  finished 
the  day's  work. 


356  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

Next  day  the  woman  wanted  to  build  a  town  by  word  of 
her  power.  She  said,  "  Mwe  [Sir]  Nkombe,  surely  you  will 
not  live  in  an  olako  all  your  life.  Look  for  a  site  for  a  town, 
and  mark  it  with  stakes  for  its  length  and  width."  Nkombe 
was  puzzled.  He  had  a  wife,  but  where  would  he  get  mate- 
rials for  a  house ;  for  he  was  as  poor  of  goods  as  he  was  be- 
fore? Being  troubled,  he  made  no  reply  to  his  wife,  and  did 
not  go  to  mark  a  site.  At  night  they  retired,  Nkombe  still 
troubled  about  the  building  of  a  town ;  but  Ilambe  was  smil- 
ing in  her  heart,  for  she  knew  what  she  would  do.  So  she 
made  him  fall  into  a  deep  sleep.  She  went  out  at  night  a 
short  distance,  and  chose  a  good  town-site.  She  spoke  to 
her  ngalo  (a  guardian-spirit  charm),  "Ngalo  mine,  before 
morning  I  want  to  see  all  this  place  cleared,  and  covered 
with  nice  houses,  and  all  the  houses  furnished  and  supplied 
with  men  and  maid  servants."     And  she  returned  to  bed. 

Before  daybreak  everything  was  ready,  as  Ilambe  desired. 
The  ngalo  had  made  the  olako  disappear,  and  Nkombe  and 
wife  were  sleeping  inside  their  nice  house.  When  morning 
came,  Nkombe  did  not  know  where  he  was,  nor  even  on 
which  side  to  get  out  of  bed.  He  exclaimed,  "  What  is  this 
word?"  "You  are  in  your  own  house  and  in  your  own 
town."  So  both  went  out  to  inspect  their  town  and  their 
servants.  Nkombe  did  not  know  how  well  to  thank  her,  so 
glad  was  he. 

Later  the  wife  became  a  mother,  and  a  son  was  bom. 
Nkombe  called  this  first-born  Ogula.  Again,  a  daughter 
was  born.  Then  the  wife  told  her  ngalo  to  bring  ships  of 
wealth.  The  next  day  ships  were  seen  coming.  Nkombe 
went  on  board  and  had  a  conversation  with  the  captains. 
They  stayed  a  few  days,  and  then  sailed  away,  leaving 
Nkombe  a  cargo  of  wealth.  Another  time  ships  came,  and 
Nkombe  went  off  on  board  as  before ;  and  these  ships  sailed 
away,  also  leaving  wealth.  Other  children  were  born  to 
them.  Children  of  a  fairy  mother  are  called  "  aganlo  " ;  they 
grow  very  fast,  and  are  very  wise. 

Other  ships  came.     One  day  one  comes,  and  Nkombe,  hav- 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  367 

ing  gone  on  board,  has  there  a  convivial  time,  stays  all  clay, 
and  returns  nearly  drunk.  The  wife  says  to  him,  "NkomLe, 
often  you  come  from  ships  looking  in  this  way,  and  I  do  not 
like  it.  I  have  spoken  with  you  often,  that  if  a  food  or  a 
drink  is  not  good  in  its  effects,  it  is  better  to  leave  it  off. 
But  you  do  not  care  for  my  words."  Nkombe,  under  the 
influence  of  liquor,  was  vexed  with  her,  rebuked  her, 
and  began  to  use  hard  words  with  orawo  (insult) :  "  You  — 
you  —  this  woman  who  —  but  I  won't  finish  it."  Soon, 
however,  he  took  up  the  quarrel  again,  saying,  "A  person 
can  know  from  your  manners  that  you  came  out  of  — " 
The  wife  said,  "  When  you  are  drunk,  you  say  half  sen- 
tences; why  hold  back?     Say  what  you  want  to  say." 

He  shouted  angrily,  "Yes,  if  I  want  to  say  it,  I  will  say  it! 
It  was  my  own  ntori  that  I  killed.  If  I  had  not  killed  it, 
would  you  have  come  out  of  it  ?  "  Then  Ilambe  said,  "  Please 
repeat  that;  I  do  not  quite  understand  you."  He  repeated 
it.  She  exclaimed,  "  Eh !  "  but  said  no  more,  and  waited 
until  morning,   when  he  would  be  sober. 

So  early  in  the  morning  she  told  him  to  get  up,  so  that  she 
could  do  her  housework.  She  did  the  morning's  work,  wash- 
ing things  neatly  but  rapidly.  Then  she  called  her  sons  and 
daughters,  and  in  their  presence  said  to  their  father,  "  You  said 
so-and-so  yesterday;  now  I  am  off  and  with  my  children." 

Nkombe  knew  he  had  said  the  forbidden  words.  He 
pleaded  for  mercy;  but  she  replied,  "No,  you  broke  your 
promise."  The  two  elder  children  pleaded  for  their  father  : 
"  It  was  only  once.  Though  a  bad  thing,  it  cannot  break 
a  marriage.  Forgive  it."  But  the  mother  persisted,  " No !  " 
Then  the  two  elder  ones  said  they  would  not  leave  their 
father. 

So  she  said  to  him,  "  Now  be  thankful  you  have  these  two. 
If  it  was  not  for  them,  I  would  put  you  back  where  you  were 
just  as  I  found  you ;  but  for  the  sake  of  these  two  children, 
I  leave  some  of  my  power  with  them."  Then  to  those  two 
she  said,  "  You  will  call  on  me  for  help  when  you  have  need, 
and  I  will  be  near  to  help  you." 


358  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

So  she  took  the  two  younger  ones,  and  said  to  their  father, 
"As  this  place  is  quite  open,  Nkombe,  sit  you  here  and  see 
me  depart."  Nkombe  did  so.  He  and  the  two  older  chil- 
dren watched  the  mother  and  the  two  younger  ones  walk 
down  the  path  from  the  town.  They  went  to  the  bank  of 
the  river,  and,  wading  in,  disappeared  in  the  river  depths. 

V.    The  Thieves  and  their  Enchanted  House. 

Ra-Mborakinda  had  his  big  town  of  men  and  women  and 
children,  all  in  good  condition.  But  a  kind  of  plague  came 
upon  the  people  suddenly,  killing  many.  In  a  short  time  it 
destroyed  most  of  the  inhabitants,  and  finally  but  few  were 
left. 

So  one  of  the  elder  sons  said  to  a  younger  one,  "  Let  us 
flee  for  our  lives ! "  This  elder  brother's  name  was  Ogula, 
and  the  younger  brother's  name  was  Nkombe.  When  Ogula 
had  thus  said,  "  Let  us  flee  for  our  lives,"  Nkombe  agreed. 
Ogula  took  as  his  servant  a  boy,  and  together  with  Nkombe 
they  went  out.  They  went  aimlessly,  not  following  any  par- 
ticular plan,  but  vaguely  hoping  to  happen  on  any  place. 

They  went,  went,  wandering  on,  on,  till  they  came  to  a  small 
hut,  almost  too  miserable  for  a  dwelling.  But  in  their  extrem- 
ity they  said,  "  Oh  !  there  is  a  house  !  Let  us  go  to  it ;  maybe 
we  '11  find  shelter  there."  So  they  walked  up  to  it,  and,  to 
their  surprise,  saw  there  an  old  man  mending  a  piece  of  canvas. 

He  saluted  them,  and  asked  them  where  they  came  from. 
They  told  their  story,  and  Ogula  asked  the  old  man  whether 
he  would,  of  his  kindness,  give  them  shelter.  He  said,  "  Yes, 
if  you  are  willing  to  do  as  I  tell  you ;  for  living  here  is  hard, 
and  there  is  nothing  to  eat.  I  have  to  cut  firewood  and 
carry  it  to  the  city  (osenge)  far  away,  and  sell  it  there.  That 
city  belongs  to  a  big  merchant." 

Ogula  said,  "  Yes ;  we  are  willing."  So  the  next  day 
Ogula  himself  and  Nkombe  and  their  servant  set  themselves 
ready  for  work.  After  they  had  cut  their  firewood,  they  asked 
the  old  man  the  way  to  the  city.  He  directed  them.  They 
went,  sold  their  firewood,  and  brought  food.     This  they  did 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  359 

many  times,  cutting  firewood  and  going  to  the  city  and 
buying  food ;  and  tliey  each  built  a  liouso  of  their  own  near 
the  old  man's  hut. 

But  after  a  while  Ogula  began  to  tire  of  this  kind  of  life ; 
so  he  said  to  himself,  "  If  I  only  had  a  gun,  I  could  go  hunt- 
ing. But  even  without  the  gun,  I  will  go  out  and  see  what 
I  can  see."  So  he  went  out  alone,  not  calling  his  brother  or 
his  servant  to  go  with  him.  He  went  and  went,  on,  on,  for 
a  half-day's  journey,  till  he  happened  to  come  to  a  large  house 
built  in  a  very  strange  style,  having  no  door  at  its  side  and 
with  a  flat  roof.  The  place  looked  clean,  as  if  kept  in  order 
by  people.  He  approached  cautiously;  but  looking  around, 
he  saw  no  one  at  all.  He  said  to  himself,  "  Who  owns  this 
place  ?  Surely  some  one  owns  it,  for  it  is  so  clean  ;  but  I  see 
no  one  here.  I  won't  leave  this  place  to-day  till  I  know 
who  lives  here."  He  decided  to  retire  a  little  and  climb  up  a 
tall  tree  overlooking  the  house  and  watch  from  there.  He 
was  very  hungry,  having  had  no  food  that  da}^,  but  he  still 
decided  to  wait  and  see  what  was  about  the  house. 

After  he  had  been  up  the  tree  a  long  while,  late  in  the  after- 
noon he  saw  a  number  of  men  coming.  He  saw  one  of 
them  climb  up  the  side  of  the  house  to  the  roof,  where  was  a 
trap-door.  All  of  the  men  had  bundles  of  goods.  The  first 
one  who  had  climbed  to  the  roof  spoke  a  few  words  to  the  door 
as  he  stood  before  it,  and  the  two  parts  of  the  door  flew 
open  of  themselves.  Then  the  other  men  climbed  up  with 
their  bundles,  and  went  into  the  house. 

All  this-  Ogula  could  see  from  his  tree-top.  He  said  to 
hmiself,  "  Now  I  am  hungry,  and  must  go,  for  I  have  seen 
enough  to-day.  I  see  that  this  house  is  occupied,  and  by 
men,  and  how  they  enter;  it  is  enough  for  to-day."  He 
thought  it  time  to  move  before  any  of  the  people  should 
come  out  of  the  house.  He  came  down  rapidly,  and  went 
back  to  the  little  hut  of  the  old  man. 

When  he  got  to  his  own  house,  his  brother  Nkombe  asked, 
"  Where  have  you  been  all  day?"  Ogula  said,  "I  was  tired 
of  working,  and  took  a  walk  to  the  forest,  and  missed  my 


360  FETICHISM   IN    WEST   AFRICA 

way."  But  he  did  not  tell  his  brother  the  story  of  what  he 
had  seen. 

Ogula  then  ate  a  little  and  went  to  bed,  though  it  was  not 
very  late.  He  went  thus  soon  to  bed,  for  he  wanted  to  go 
early  next  day  to  inspect  the  big  house  again.  So,  very, 
very  early,  before  daylight,  Ogula  was  up  and  off,  for  he  did 
not  wish  his  brother  to  ask  him  where  he  was  going. 

He  remembered  the  way  to  the  big  house,  and  went  directly 
there.  He  climbed  his  tree.  He  looked  and  saw  that  the  door 
of  the  house  was  open.  He  waited  a  little  while,  and  then  saw 
the  men  climbing  out  of  the  door.  Their  leader  was  the  last ; 
he  spoke  a  cabalistic  word,  pressed  his  foot  on  the  threshold, 
as  the  two  sides  of  the  door  folded  together,  and  it  was  closed. 

After  they  had  been  gone  quite  awhile,  Ogula  thought  he 
would  try  to  enter  the  house,  first  seeking  what  was  the  way 
to  open  it.  He  said  to  himself,  "  I  know  they  have  goods 
there,  for  I  have  seen  them  carried  in."  So  he  descended 
from  the  tree,  and  going  to  the  house,  climbed  up  the 
side.  When  he  got  to  the  top,  he  searched  for  something  by 
which  the  door  could  be  opened.  He  saw  nothing  like  a  key 
or  lock  or  handle.  Then  he  remembered  the  words  he  had 
heard  the  leader  use,  and  thought,  "  Perhaps  they  were  the 
means  by  which  the  door  was  opened. "  So  he  uttered  the 
words,  "  Yaginla  mie,  ka  nungwa,  aweme ! "  (Obey  me, 
and  thyself  open ! )  and,  to  his  surprise,  the  door  flew  open. 
Then  he  went  down  the  flight  of  steps  leading  below  to  the 
interior  of  the  house.  He  was  startled  when  he  saw  the  room 
full  of  all  kinds  of  money  and  goods  and  wealth  that  any  one 
could  wish  to  have.  One  could  have  taken  away  a  great  deal 
without  its  absence  being  noticed,  so  abundant  was  the  amount. 

Ogula  thought,  "  Is  n't  this  fine  !  But  I  must  be  quick, 
lest  the  owners  of  this  house  catch  me  here."  So  he  took 
a  cloth,  and  put  into  it  a  few  small  articles  and  a  quantity 
of  cash.  He  tied  up  the  bundle,  went  up  the  stairway,  and 
walked  out  of  the  door  which  he  had  left  open.  At  the  top 
he  remembered  the  word  "  Nunja  !  "  (Shut !)  which  the  leader 
had  used  for  closing.     He  spoke  it ;  and  the  door  shut.     He 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  361 

hasted  away,  and  back  to  tlie  hut  of  the  old  man.  He  did 
not  enter  it,  but  went  to  his  own  house  and  there  hid  the 
bundle.  He  told  no  one  anything,  neitlier  the  old  man  nor 
his  servant  nor  even  his  brother.  Soon  the  brother  came 
over  from  his  house,  saying,  "  Brother !  I  looked  for  you 
this  morning ;  you  must  have  gone  out  very  early."  "  Yes, 
I  went  out  early,  for  I  am  tired  of  seeing  so  little ;  so  I  went 
out  to  see  what  I  could  see." 

The  next  day  he  did  the  same.  On  this  trip  he  took  not 
only  money  from  the  house,  but  some  fine  clothing  for  himself 
to  wear.  As  before,  on  emerging  at  the  top  of  the  house,  he 
spoke  the  word  "  Nunja !  "  tlie  door  closed,  and  he  was  away 
again,  no  one  having  seen  him.  When  Ogula  got  back  to  his 
house,  Nkombe  asked  him  the  same  question  of  the  day  before, 
"  Where  have  you  been  ? "  and  he  made  only  the  evasive 
answer.  But  Nkombe  began  to  be  troubled.  He  feared 
something  was  wrong,  and  he  determined  to  find  out  what 
was  the  matter.  So  he  decided  to  get  up  next  morning  just 
as  early  as  Ogula.  The  reason  that  Ogula  did  not  tell 
Nkombe  was  because  the  latter  had  a  bad  jealous  heart,  and 
was  very  covetous  of  money.  So  early  in  the  morning  Ogula 
was  off.  He  did  not  know  that  Nkombe  had  any  thought  of 
following  him.  But  as  soon  as  Nkombe  saw  Ogula  start,  he 
followed  him  cautiously,  so  that  he  might  find  out  what  his 
brother  was  doing. 

Ogula  walked  on  straight  and  rapidly,  and  never  looked 
behind,  for  he  had  no  suspicion  that  he  was  being  followed. 
When  he  got  to  the  house,  as  usual  he  ordered  the  door  to 
open,  and  descended  inside.  While  he  was  beginning  to 
select  the  things  he  wanted  to  take,  to  his  surprise  he  saw 
Nkombe  also  descending  the  stairway.  Ogula  said,  "Nkombe  ! 
what  is  this  ?  Wlio  showed  you  tlie  way  ?  Who  told  you  to 
come  here  ?  I  am  troubled  to  find  you  here  ;  for  this  \vill  be 
the  end  of  you !  I  knew  it  was  not  safe  for  you  to  come  here. 
What  I  took  was  for  us  both." 

Nkombe  said,  "  No  !  you  hid  it  from  me.  I  have  found  it 
now.     I  will  be  rich  for  myself."     By  this  time  Ogula  had 


362  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

tied  up  liis  bundle  ready  to  go  out.  But  Nkombe  was  snatch- 
ing up  a  large  quantity  from  every  side.  Ogula  said, 
"  Nkombe !  be  quick  !  You  do  not  know  how  to  shut  that 
door,  and  it  will  not  be  safe  for  us  to  be  found  here  by  those 
people."  But  Nkombe  was  not  satisfied  with  one  bundle,  he 
was  still  gathering  up  other  bundles.  Ogula  wearied  of  Avait- 
ing  and  begging  of  Nkombe  to  come,  so  he  said  he  must 
go  and  leave  him,  saying,  "  Now,  Nkombe,  it  is  not  safe  to 
wait  longer.  I  have  waited  for  you  and  begged  you  to  leave 
with  me ;  so  I  go  alone.  You  cannot  get  out  with  all  those 
bundles." 

But  Nkombe  would  not  listen.  So  Ogula  went  out,  and 
spoke  the  word  that  closed  the  door,  leaving  Nkombe  in  the 
house.  However,  being  anxious  for  his  brother,  Ogula  did  not 
go  away,  but  climbed  his  tree  to  see  what  would  happen. 

When  Nkombe  had  entered  the  house,  he  had  with  him  a 
big,  sharp  knife. 

Ogula  waited  outside  till  those  people  should  come.  Soon 
they  came.  The  leader  did  as  usual,  being  the  first  to  climb 
to  the  house-top  and  to  order  the  door  to  open.  The  door 
flew  open,  and  the  leader  descended.  As  soon  as  he  entered, 
he  found  another  man,  Nkombe,  in  the  house.  The  leader 
asked,  "  Who  are  you,  and  how  did  you  get  in  here  ? '' 
Nkombe  did  not  reply,  but  drawing  his  knife,  plunged  it  into 
the  leader's  neck.  With  one  outcry  the  man  fell  dead.  By 
this  time  some  of  the  other  men  had  climbed  up  and  were 
about  to  enter.  When  they  got  inside,  they  saw  their  leader 
lying  dead,  and  this  stranger  standing  armed.  One  of  the  men 
drew  his  pistol  and  shot  Nkombe.  [Observe  the  pistol;  all  these 
folk-lore  stories  disregard  anachronisms  or  even  impossibili- 
ties.] They  carried  his  dead  body  to  the  roof,  and  threw  it 
off  to  the  ground.  All  this  Ogula  saw,  looking  from  the  tree- 
top  down  into  the  house. 

Then  those  people  began  to  be  perplexed  and  suspicious, 
saying,  "  This  is  not  the  work  of  only  one,  for  we  found  the 
door  closed  on  our  arrival.  So  this  person  inside  must  have 
had  some  associate  outside.     How  shall  we  find  it  out?  " 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  363 

They  began  to  plan,  each  one  with  his  proposition.  One 
said,  "  Let  us  go  and  bury  the  dead  body."  Another,  "  Let 
us  leave  it  and  go  on  with  our  business,  and  if  on  our  return 
the  body  is  missing,  that  will  be  a  proof  tliat  a  partner  has 
taken  it.  Then  we  will  get  on  the  track  and  find  wliere  the 
body  was  taken."  And  tliey  agreed  that  he  whose  plan 
proved  successful  should  be  their  new  leader.  So  they 
closed  the  door,  left  Nkombe's  dead  body  lying,  and  went  off 
on  their  usual  business. 

After  they  had  been  gone  quite  a  while,  Ogula  came  down 
quickly  from  the  tree.  lie  tried  to  carry  the  body  of  his 
brother  without  dragging  it  so  as  not  to  leave  any  sign  of  a 
trail.  And  he  did  not  follow  the  path,  but  walked  parallel 
with  it  among  the  bushes.  He  hid  the  body,  and  then  went 
away  to  his  house.  He  called  his  servant,  telling  liim  that 
Nkombe  was  dead,  and  that  he  wanted  him  to  come  help  bury 
the  body.  He  did  not  call  the  old  man,  but  only  told  him  that 
his  brother  was  dead. 

He  and  the  servant  went  to  the  spot  where  he  had  left  his 
brother's  body.  They  carried  it  far  into  the  forest,  buried  it, 
and  then  went  back  to  their  house. 

When  the  thieves  came  again  to  their  house,  they  missed 
the  dead  body,  so  that  part  of  their  plan  had  proved  true  ; 
and  they  said  to  the  one  who  had  proposed  it,  "  You  were 
right.  You  are  our  leader.  What  is  your  next  order  ?  "  He 
said,  "  To-morrow  we  will  not  go  out  to  do  our  business,  but 
we  will  go  out  to  hunt  for  this  other  man." 

The  next  day  they  went,  and  scattering  searched  on  all 
paths  to  see  wliether  they  would  meet  with  some  one  or  see 
some  house.  Some  of  them  who  were  on  a  certain  path  came 
to  the  huts  of  the  old  man  and  Ogula.  The  first  person 
they  saw  was  the  old  man  sitting  in  his  doorway.  They 
stopped  and  saluted.  They  asked  him  a  few  questions,  and 
then  consulting  together  agreed  to  return  to  their  house  and 
come  back  next  day,  hoping  to  find  out  something  from  the 
old  man.  They  went  back  to  their  liouse.  Previous  to  this, 
from  the  time  that  Ogula  had  been  stealing  goods  he  had  built 


364  FETICHISM    IN   WEST   AFRICA 

with  his  servant  a  little  village  of  his  own  some  distance  from 
the  old  man's  hut.  On  this  first  coming  of  the  thieves,  Ogula, 
hidden  in  his  house,  had  seen  them,  and  he  said  to  himself,  "  As 
they  now  know  of  this  place,  I  better  go  away,  for  fear  this  thing 
be  found  out,  and  they  kill  me  as  they  did  my  brother."  So 
at  night  he  left  that  house  and  went  off  to  his  village. 

In  the  morning  of  the  next  day,  when  the  thieves  came,  they 
brought  liquor,  for  they  had  planned  that  they  would  make 
this  old  man  drunk,  that  he  might  talk  when  he  was  foolish 
with  liquor. 

They  came  to  the  old  man's  and  saluted  him.  They  sat 
and  conversed,  asking  him,  "  How  many  people  are  here  ?  Are 
you  always  living  alone  ?  "  At  first  he  replied,  "  Yes,  I  live 
alone."  "  But  you  are  so  old,  how  do  you  get  your  food  by 
yourself  ?  Would  you  like  to  taste  a  nice  drink  ?  We  are 
sorry  for  you  in  your  lack  of  comforts."  "  Yes,  I  would  like 
to  taste  it." 

So  they  opened  their  liquor,  drank  a  little  themselves, 
and  gave  to  him.  After  he  had  drunk  he  became  talkative, 
and  began  conversation  again :  "  Oh,  yes,  you  asked  me  if  I 
lived  alone.  But  not  quite  alone.  There  is  a  young  man 
here."  The  thieves  were  glad  to  hear  him  talk,  and  gave 
him  more  liquor.  He  drank ;  they  asked  more  questions, 
"  You  said  there  was  another  man  with  you  ;  where  is  he  ?  " 
Then  tlie  old  man  repeated  the  wliole  story  of  the  coming  of 
the  brothers,  to  the  death  of  one  of  them ;  and  added,  "  A 
few  days  ago  one  of  them  came  to  tell  me  he  was  going  to 
bury  his  brother;  but  I  do  not  know  when  or  how  he  died." 
So  they  asked  the  old  man,  "  You  know  where  he  was 
buried?"  "No."  "But  where  is  that  living  brother?" 
"  Oh,  he  has  just  left  me,  and  is  gone  to  his  new  place  not 
very  far  away,  I  have  not  been  there,  but  you  can  easily 
find  it." 

They  consulted  among  themselves.  "As  this  other  man  may 
hear  of  what  we  are  about,  we  will  go  away  to-day,  disguise 
ourselves,  and  to-morrow  seek  for  his  place."     So  they  all  left. 

Next  day  two  or  three  came  disguised,  and  found  Ogula's 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  365 

new  house  in  the  afternoon.  He  did  not  recognize  their 
faces.  He  welcomed  them  as  strangers  and  treated  them 
politely.  They  asked,  "  Is  this  your  house  ?  Do  you  live 
alone?"  He  answered  straightly,  but  did  not  mention  his 
brother.  But  they  felt  they  had  enough  proof  of  who  he 
was,  and  left.  But  before  they  left  they  had  observed  the 
number  and  location  of  the  rooms  and  the  shape  of  the  house. 
In  the  house  was  a  large  public  reception  and  sitting  room, 
and  from  it  were  doors  leading  to  the  servant's  room  and  to  a 
little  entry  opening  into  Ogula's  room. 

The  next  day  Ogula  and  his  servant  were  doing  their  work 
of  refining  the  gum-copal  they  had  gathered  for  trade  ;  it  was 
being  boiled  in  an  enormous  kettle.  When  this  copal  was 
melted,  the  kettle  was  set,  with  its  boiling-hot  pitchy  contents, 
in  that  little  entry.  In  the  afternoon  came  the  whole  com- 
pany of  thieves,  all  disguised.  They  said,  "  We  have  come 
to  make  your  acquaintance,  and  to  relieve  your  loneliness  by 
an  evening's  amusement."  Ogula  began  to  prepare  them 
food.  They  sat  at  the  food,  eating  and  drinking  ;  had  conver- 
sation, and  spent  the  evening  laughing  and  playing.  At 
niglit  most  of  them  pretended  to  be  drunk  and  sleepy,  and 
stretched  themselves  on  the  floor  of  the  large  room  as  if  in 
sleep. 

Ogula  also  had  been  drinking,  and  said  he  was  tired  and 
would  go  to  bed.  But  his  servant  was  sober;  he  saw  what 
the  men  were  doing,  and  suspected  evil.  He  thought:  "Ah  ! 
my  master  is  drunk,  and  these  people  are  strangers.  What 
will  happen  ?  "  So  when  the  lights  were  put  out  and  he  was 
going  to  bed,  he  left  open  the  door  of  the  little  entry  and 
locked  the  door  of  his  master's  room.  After  midnight  the 
tliieves  rose  and  consulted.  "  Let  us  go  and  kill  him,"  They 
arose  and  trod  softly  toward  Ogula's  room.  Not  quite  sober, 
they  missed  the  proper  vs^ay,  stepped  through  the  open  door  of 
the  little  entry,  and  stumbled  into  the  caldron  of  copal.  It 
was  still  hot,  and  stuck  to  their  bodies  like  pitch.  They 
were  in  agony,  but  did  not  dare  to  cry  out.  They  all  were 
crawling  covered  with  the  hot  gum,  except  the  last  man,  who 


366  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

had  jumped  over  the  bodies  of  those  who  had  fallen  before 
him  ;  and  he  ran  away  to  their  house. 

But  Ogula  was  sleeping,  ignorant  of  what  was  going  on. 

In  the  morning  the  boy,  who  also  had  slept,  on  opening 
the  house,  found  the  kettle  full  of  tarred  limbs  of  dead  human 
bodies.  He  knocked  at  Ogula's  door  and  waked  him.  But 
Ogula  said,  "  Don't  disturb  me,  I  am  so  tired  from  last  night's 
revel."  "  Yes,  but  get  up  and  see  what  has  happened." 
Ogula  came  and  saw.  Then  he  told  the  lad  that  but  for  him 
he  would  have  been  dead.  Ogula  thenceforth  took  him  as  a 
brother.  Then  he  and  the  boy  had  a  big  work  of  throwing 
out  the  bodies  of  the  thieves.  Ogula  was  not  afraid  of  a 
charge  of  murder,  for  the  thieves  had  tumbled  themselves 
into  the  scalding  contents  of  the  kettle.  He  had  enough 
wealth,  and  did  not  go  again  to  the  thieves'  house. 

But  that  one  man  who  had  escaped  was  wishing  for  re- 
venge, yet  was  afraid  to  come  to  Ogula's  house  by  himself. 
Time  went  on.  Ogula  remained  quiet.  But  his  enemy  still 
sought  revenge,  waiting  for  an  opportunity. 

Gradually,  too,  Ogula  had  forgotten  his  enemy's  face ;  for 
the  thieves  were  many,  and  all  disguised,  and  he  would  be 
unable  to  distinguish  which  one  had  escaped. 

On  a  time  it  happened  that  this  thief  went  far  to  another 
country  ;  and  while  he  was  there,  Ogula  also  happened  to 
journey  to  that  very  town.  The  lad  had  said,  being  now  a 
young  man,  "  May  I  go  too  ?  "  "  Yes,  you  may,  for  you  are 
like  a  brother.  You  must  go  wherever  I  do."  On  the  very 
second  day  in  the  town  the  two,  Ogula  and  the  thief,  met. 
The  thief  recognized  Ogula;  but  Ogula  did  not  recognize 
him,  and  neither  spoke ;  but  the  young  man,  with  better 
memory,  said  to  himself,  "  I  have  seen  this  man  somewhere." 
He  looked  closely,  but  said  nothing. 

The  next  day  the  thief  made  a  feast.  He  met  Ogula  again 
on  the  street  and  saluted  him,  "  Mbolo  !  I  am  making  a  feast. 
You  seem  a  stranger.  I  would  like  you  to  come."  "  Yes ; 
where  ?  "  "  At  such-and-such  a  place."  "  Yes,  I  will  come. 
But  this  attendant  of  mine  is  good,  and  must  be  invited  too." 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  367 

"  Yes,  I  have  no  objections."  Next  evening  the  feast  was 
held,  and  people  came  to  it.  The  thief  placed  Ogula  and  his 
servant  near  himself.  There  was  much  eating  and  drinking. 
The  thief  became  excited,  and  determined  to  kill  Ogula  at  the 
table  by  sticking  him  with  a  knife. 

All  the  while  that  the  thief  was  watching  Ogula,  tlie  ser- 
vant was  watching  the  thief.  I*resently  the  latter  tui-ned 
slightly  and  began  to  draw  a  knife.  The  servant  watched 
him  closely.  The  thief's  knife  was  out,  and  the  servant's 
knife  was  out  too.  But  the  thief  was  watching  only  Ogula, 
and  did  not  know  what  the  servant  was  doing.  Just  as  the 
thief  was  about  to  thrust  at  Ogula,  the  servant  jumped  and 
thrust  his  knife  into  the  thief's  neck.  The  man  fell,  blood 
flowing  abundantly  over  the  table.  The  guests  were  alarmed, 
and  were  about  to  seize  the  servant,  who  pointed  at  the  drawn 
knife  in  the  man's  hand  that  had  been  intended  for  his  master ; 
and  then  he  told  their  whole  story. 

So  the  guests  decided  that  there  was  no  charge  against 
Ogula  and  his  servant,  and  scattered.  The  next  clay  Ogula 
and  his  servant  left.  As  he  knew  that  that  man  was  the  last 
of  the  company  of  thieves,  he  said,  in  gladness,  "Now! 
Glory !  "  Then  he  thought,  "  All  that  wealth  is  mine,  since 
this  last  one  who  tried  to  take  my  life  is  dead." 

As  he  had  seen  enough  of  the  world  by  travel,  he  decided 
to  stay  in  one  place.  He  would  call  people  to  live  with  him 
in  a  new  town  which  he  would  build  for  them  around  that 
enchanted  house  of  the  thieves,  which  he  took  as  his  own  with 
all  its  wealth.  And  he  lived  long  in  that  house  in  great 
glory,  with  wife  and  children  and  retainers  and  slaves. 

VI.    Banga  of  the  Five  Faces. 

Ra-Mborakinda  lived  in  his  town  with  his  sons  and  daugh- 
ters and  his  glory.  One  son  was  Nkombe,  and  another  Ogula, 
whose  full  name  was  Ogula-keva-anlingo-n'-ogenda  (Ogula- 
who-goes-faster-than-water) ;  but  they  were  not  of  the  same 
mother. 

Ogula  grew  up  without  taking  any  wife.     He   became  a 


368  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

great  man,  with  knowledge  of  sorcery.  One  day  his  father 
said  to  him,  "  Ogula,  as  you  are  a  big  man  now,  I  think  it  is 
time  for  you  to  have  a  wife.  I  think  you  had  better  choose 
from  one  of  my  young  wives."  Ogula  replied,  "No,  I  will 
get  a  wife  in  my  own  way."  So  one  day  he  went  to  another 
osenge  (clearing)  of  a  town  which  belonged  to  a  man  of  the 
awiri  (spirits;  plural  of  "ombwiri  "),  i.  e.,  one  who  possessed 
magic  power,  and  obtained  one  of  his  daughters.  Her  name 
was  Ikagu-ny' -awiri. 

He  brought  the  girl  home  to  his  father's  house,  where  she 
was  very  much  admired  as  "  a  fine  woman !  a  fine  woman !  " 
She  was  indeed  very  pretty.  Then  Ogula  said  to  her,  "  As 
you  are  now  my  wife,  you  must  be  orunda  (set  apart  from) 
to  other  men,  and  I  will  be  orunda  to  other  women,  even  if 
I  go  to  work  at  another  place."  And  she  replied,  "It  is 
well." 

At  another  time  Ogula  said,  "I  think  it  better  for  us  to 
move  away  from  my  father's  town,  and  put  my  house  just  a 
little  way  off."  After  the  new  house  was  finished  they  moved 
to  it,  and  lived  by  themselves.  Ogula  had  business  else- 
where that  compelled  him  to  be  often  absent,  returning  at 
times  in  the  afternoons.  Whenever  Nkombe  knew  that  Ogula 
was  out,  he  would  come  and  annoy  Ikagu  with  solicitation  to 
leave  her  husband  and  marry  him.  Ogula  knew  of  this,  for 
he  had  a  ngalo  (a  special  fetich)  that  enabled  him  to  know 
what  was  going  on  elsewhere.  The  wife  would  say,  "Ah, 
Nkombe!  No,  I  know  that  you  are  my  husband's  brother; 
but  I  do  not  want  you!  "  Then,  when  it  was  time  for  Ogula 
to  return,  Nkombe  would  go  off.  That  went  on  for  many 
days;  Nkombe  visiting  Ikagu  whenever  he  had  opportunity, 
and  the  wife  refusing  him  every  time.  It  went  on  so  long 
that  at  last  Ogula  thought  that  he  would  speak  to  his  wife 
about  it. 

So  he  began  to  ask  her,  "Is  everything  all  right?  Has  any 
one  been  troubling  you?"  She  answered,  "No."  He  asked 
her  again,  and  again  she  said,  "No."  Thus  it  went  on,  — 
Nkombe  coming;  Ogula  asking  questions;  and  the  wife,  un- 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  369 

willing  to  make  trouble  between  tlie  two  brothers,  denying. 
But  one  day  tlie  trouble  that  Nkonibe  made  the  wife  was  so 
great  that  Ogula,  with  the  aid  of  his  ngalo,  thought  surely 
she  would  acknowledge.  But  she  did  not;  for  that  day, 
when  he  came  and  called  his  wife  into  their  bedroom,  and 
asked  her,  she  only  asserted  weakly,  "No  trouble."  Then 
he  said,  "Do  you  think  I  do  not  know?  You  are  a  good 
wife  to  me.  I  know  all  that  has  passed  between  you  and 
Nkombe."  And  he  added,  "As  Nkombe  is  making  you  all 
this  trouble,  I  will  have  to  remove  again  far  from  my  father's 
town,  and  go  elsewhere."  So  he  went  far  away,  and  built 
a  small  village  for  himself  and  wife.  They  put  it  in  good 
order,  and  made  the  pathway  wide  and  clean. 

But  in  his  going  far  from  his  father's  town  he  had  un- 
knowingly come  near  to  another  town  that  belonged  to 
another  Ra-Mborakinda,  who  also  had  great  power  and 
many  sons  and  daughters.  One  of  the  sons  also  was  named 
Ogula,  just  as  old  and  as  large  as  this  first  Ogula.  One 
day  this  Ogula  went  out  hunting  with  his  gun.  He  went 
far,  leaving  his  town  far  away,  going  on  and  on  till  he  saw 
it  was  late  in  the  day  and  that  it  was  time  to  go  back. 

Just  as  he  was  about  returning  he  came  to  a  nice  clean 
pathway,  and  he  wondered,  "So  here  are  people?  This  fine 
path!  who  cleans  it?  and  where  does  it  lead  to?"  So  he 
thought  he  would  go  and  see  for  himself;  and  he  started  on 
the  path.  He  had  not  gone  far  before  he  came  to  the  house 
of  Ogula.  There  he  stood,  admiring  the  house  and  grounds. 
"  A  fine  house !  a  fine  house !  " 

When  Ogula  saw  Ogula  2d  standing  in  the  street,  he  in- 
vited him  up  into  the  house.  They  asked  each  other  a  few 
questions,  became  acquainted,  and  made  friendship;  and 
Ogula  kept  Ogula  2d  for  two  days  as  his  guest.  Then  Ogula 
2d  said,  "  They  may  think  me  lost,  in  town,  after  these  two 
days.  Thanks  for  your  kindness,  but  I  had  better  go."  And 
he  added,  "  Some  day  I  will  send  for  you,  and  you  will  come 
to  visit  me,  that  I  may  show  you  hospitality." 

Ogula  2d  went  back  to  his  place.     He  had  a  sister  who 

24 


370  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

was  a  very  troublesome  woman,  assuming  authority  and  giv- 
ing orders  like  a  man.  Her  name  was  Banga-yi-baganlo-tani 
(Banga-of-live-faees).  Though  her  father,  the  king,  and  her 
brother  were  still  living,  she  insisted  on  governing  the  town. 
When  any  one  displeased  her,  or  she  was  vexed  with  any 
one,  she  would  order  that  person  to  lie  down  before  a  cannon 
and  be  shot  to  pieces.  The  father  was  wearied  of  her  annoy- 
ances, but  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  her. 

As  Ogula  2d  had  left  word  with  Ogula  that  he  would  in- 
vite him  on  another  day,  he  did  so.  Ogula  accepted ;  but  as 
the  invitation  was  only  to  himself,  he  did  not  take  his  wife, 
but  went  by  himself,  and  was  welcomed  and  entertained. 

When  it  was  late  afternoon,  he  was  about  to  go  back,  but 
Ogula  2d  said,  "You  were  so  kind  to  me;  do  not  go  back 
to-day.     Stay  with  me."     And  Ogula  consented. 

In  asking  Ogula  to  stay,  Ogula  2d  thought,  "As  his  wife 
is  not  here,  perhaps  he  will  want  another  woman.  I  have 
my  sister  here;  but  if  I  first  oifer  her,  it  will  be  a  shame, 
for  he  has  not  asked  for  any  one  "  [an  actual  native  Afri- 
can custom,  to  give  a  guest  a  temporary  wife,  as  one  of  the 
usual  hospitalities.  The  custom  is  not  resented  by  the 
women]. 

All  this  while  Ogula  had  not  seen  the  sister.  When  they 
were  ready  for  the  evening  meal,  Ogula  2d  thought  it  time 
to  call  his  sister  to  see  the  guest.  She  fixed  herself  up 
finely,  clean,  and  with  ornaments.  She  came  and  sat  in  the 
house,  and  there  were  the  usual  salutations  of  "Mbolo!  " 
"Ai,  mbolo!"  and  some  conversation. 

While  they  were  talking,  Banga  had  her  face  cast 
down  with  eyes  to  the  ground.  And  when  she  lifted  her 
eyes  to  look  at  Ogula,  her  face  changed.  From  the  time 
she  came  in  till  meal-time,  she  made  a  succession  of  these 
changes  of  her  face,  thinking  that  Ogula  would  be  surprised, 
and  would  admire  the  changes,  and  expecting  that  he  would 
ask  her  brother  for  her. 

She  waited  and  waited ;  Ogula  saw  all  these  five  changes 
of  her  face,  but  was  not  attracted.     They  went  to  their  food, 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  371 

and  ate  and  finished.  And  they  talked  on  till  bedtime;  but 
Ogula  had  said  nothing  of  love.  IJanga  was  annoyed  and 
disappointed ;  she  went  to  her  bed  piqued  and  with  resentful 
thoughts. 

The  next  morning  Ogula  said  it  was  time  to  go  back  to  his 
wife.  When  he  was  getting  ready  to  go,  Banga  said  to  him, 
"  Have  you  a  wife  ?  " 

He  answered,  "Yes."  She  said,  "I  want  her  to  come  and 
visit  me  some  day."  And  Ogula  agreed.  He  went,  and 
returning  to  his  house,  told  his  wife  that  Banga  wanted  to 
see  her. 

After  Ogula  was  gone,  Banga  asked  her  brother  about 
Ogula's  wife.  "Is  she  pretty?"  And  he  told  her  how  finely 
the  wife  had  looked.  Banga  was  not  pleased  at  that,  was 
jealous,  and  waited  till  Ikagu  should  come  that  she  might  see 
for  herself.  "  I  will  see  if  she  is  more  beautiful  than  I  with 
my  five  countenances."  Subsequently  Banga  chose  a  day, 
and  sent  for  Ikagu.  She  dressed  for  the  journey,  and  Ogula, 
not  being  invited,  took  her  only  half-way. 

When  Ogula's  wife  arrived,  Banga  saw  that  it  was  true 
that  she  was  pretty,  and  of  graceful  carriage  in  her  walking, 
and  she  did  not  wonder  that  her  husband  was  charmed  with  her. 
But  she  hid  her  jealousy,  and  pretended  to  be  pleased  with  her 
visitor.  Ogula's  wife  did  not  spend  the  night  there;  when  she 
thought  it  time  to  go,  she  said  good-bye,  and  turned  to  leave. 

When  she  had  gone,  Banga  was  planning  for  a  contest  with 
her.  She  said  to  herself,  "  Now  I  see  why  that  man  made  me 
feel  ashamed  at  his  not  asking  for  my  love,  —  because  his 
wife  is  so  beautiful.  She  shall  see  that  I  will  have  her  killed, 
and  I  shall  have  her  husband. " 

So  after  a  few  days  she  sent  word  to  Ogula's  wife,  "Pre- 
pare yourself  for  a  fight,  and  come  and  meet  me  at  my  father's 
house." 

T>ut  the  wife  said  to  Ogula,  "  I  have  done  nothing.  What  is 
the  fight  for?  "  Nevertheless,  she  began  to  prepare  a  fighting- 
dress,  and  before  it  was  finished  another  messenger  came  with 
word,  "You  are  waited  for." 


372  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

So  she  said,  "  As  it  is  not  a  call  for  peace,  I  had  better  put 
on  a  dress  that  befits  blood."  So  she  dressed  in  red.  After 
she  was  dressed  she  started,  and  Ogula  went  with  her,  to  hear 
what  was  the  ground  of  the  challenge. 

As  soon  as  they  got  to  the  town,  they  found  Banga  strid- 
ing up  and  down  the  street.  Her  cannon  was  already  loaded, 
waiting  to  be  fired.  When  Ogula  wanted  to  know  what  the 
"palaver  "  was,  Banga  said,  "I  do  not  want  to  talk  with  you; 
I  only  want  you  to  obey  my  orders. " 

But  Ikilgu  wanted  to  know  what  the  trouble  was,  and 
began  to  ask,  "What  have  I  done?"  Banga  only  repeated, 
"I  don't  want  any  words  from  you;  only,  3'ou  come  and  lie 
down  in  front  of  this  cannon."  Ikagu  obeyed,  and  lay  down, 
and  Banga  ordered  her  men  to  fire  the  cannon. 

By  this  time  Ogula,  by  the  power  of  his  ngalo,  had  changed 
the  places  of  the  two  women.  When  the  cannon  was  fired, 
and  the  smoke  had  cleared  away,  the  people  who  stood  by 
saw  Ikagu  standing  safe  by  her  husband,  and  Banga  lying 
dead.  All  the  assembled  people  began  to  wonder,  "  What  is 
this?     What  is  this?" 

So  Banga's  father  called  Ogula,  and  said,  "Do  not  think 
I  am  displeased  with  you  at  the  death  of  my  daughter; 
I  too  was  wearied  at  her  doings.  So,  as  you  are  justified, 
and  Banga  was  wrong,  it  is  no  matter  to  be  quarrelled 
about." 

And  Ogula  2d  said  to  Ogula,  "I  am  not  vexed  at  you. 
You  had  done  nothing.  She  wanted  to  bring  trouble  on 
you,  and  it  has  come  on  herself.  I  have  no  fight  with  you. 
We  will  still  be  friends.  But  do  not  live  off  in  your  forest 
village  by  yourself ;  come  you  and  your  wife  to  live  in  this 
town." 

So  Ogula  and  his  wife  consented,  and  agreed  to  remove,  and 
live  with  Ogula  2d.     And  they  did  so  without  further  trouble. 

VII.    The  Two  Brothers. 

Ra-Mborakinda  has  his  great  town,  and  his  wives,  and 
his  children,  and  the  glory  of  his  kingdom.     All  his  women 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  373 

had  no  children,  except  the  h)ved  h(;ad-wife,  Ngwe-nkonde 
(Mother  of  Queens),  and  the  unh)ved  Ngvve-vazya  (Mother 
of  Skin-Disease).  Each  of  these  two  had  children,  sons,  at 
the  same  time.  The  father  gave  them  their  names.  Ngwe- 
nkonde's  was  Nkombe,  and  Ngwe-vazya's  was  Ogula. 
Again  these  two  women  became  mothei's.  This  time  both  of 
them  had  daughters.  Ngwe-nkonde's  was  named  Ngwanga, 
and  Ngwe-vazya's  was  Ilambe.  A  third  time  these  two  bore 
children,  sons,  on  the  same  day.  These  two  sons  grew  up 
without  names  till  they  began  to  talk,  for  the  father  had 
delayed  to  give  them  names.  But  one  day  he  called  them 
to  announce  to  them  their  names.  What  he  had  selected 
they  refused,  saying  that  they  had  already  named  them- 
selves. Ngwe-nkonde's  child  named  himself  Osongo,  and 
Ngwe-vazya's  Obengi.      And  the  father  agreed. 

These  two  children  grew  and  loved  each  other  very  much. 
No  one  would  have  thought  that  they  belonged  to  different 
mothers,  so  great  was  the  love  they  had  for  each  other. 
They  were  always  seen  together,  and  always  ate  at  the  same 
place.  When  one  happened  to  be  out  at  mealtime,  the 
other  would  not  eat,  and  would  begin  to  cry  till  the  absent 
one  returned.     Both  were  handsome  in  form  and  feature. 

When  Ngwe-vazya's  people  heard  about  her  nice-looking 
little  boy,  they  sent  word  to  her,  "  We  have  heard  about  your 
children,  but  we  have  not  seen  you  for  a  long  time.  Come 
and  visit  us,  and  bring  your  youngest  son,  for  we  have  heard 
of  him  and  want  to  see  him." 

So  she  went  and  asked  permission  of  Ra-Mborakinda, 
saying  that  she  wanted  to  go  and  see  her  people.  He  was 
willing.  Then  she  made  herself  ready  to  start.  As  soon  as 
Osongo  knew  that  his  brother  Obengi  was  going  away,  he 
began  to  cry  at  the  thought  of  separation.  He  said,  "  I  am 
not  going  to  stay  alone.  I  have  to  go  too,  for  I  am  not 
willing  to  be  separated  from  my  brother.  And  Obengi  said 
the  same :  "  If  Osongo  does  not  go  with  us,  then  I  will  not 
go  at  all."  Then  Ngwe-vazya  thought  to  herself,  "No,  it 
will   not  do  for  me  to  take  Osongo  along  with  me,  for   his 


874  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

mother  and  I  are  not  friendly."  And  she  told  Osongo  that 
he  must  stay.  But  both  the  boys  persisted,  "No,  we  both 
must  go."  So  Ngwe-vazya  said,  "Well,  let  it  be  so.  I 
will  take  care  of  Osongo  as  if  he  were  my  own  son."  And 
Ra-Mborakinda  and  Ngwe-nkonde  were  willing  that  Osongo 
should  go. 

So  they  started  and  went;  and  when  they  reached  the  town 
of  Ngwe-vazya's  family  the  people  were  very  glad  to  receive 
them.  She  was  very  attentive  to  both  the  boys,  watching 
them  wherever  they  went,  for  they  were  the  beloved  sons  of 
Ra-Mborakinda.  She  was  there  at  her  people's  town  about 
two  months.  Then  she  told  them  that  it  was  time  to  re- 
turn home  with  the  two  boys.  Her  people  assented,  and 
began  to  load  her  and  the  boys  with  parting  presents. 

They  went  back  to  Ra-Mborakinda's  town,  and  there  also 
their  people  were  glad  to  see  them  return,  for  the  children 
had  grown,  and  looked  well.  The  people,  and  even  Ra- 
Mborakinda,  praised  Ngwe-vazya  for  having  so  well  cared 
for  the  children,  especially  the  one  who  was  not  her  own. 

This  made  Ngwe-nkonde  more  jealous,  because  of  the 
praise  that  Ra-Mborakinda  gave,  and  because  of  the  boys' 
fine  report  of  their  visit  and  the  abundance  of  gifts  with 
which  Ngwe-vazya  had  returned.  So  Ngwe-nkonde  made 
up  her  mind  that  some  day  she  would  do  the  same,  that  she 
might  receive  similar  praise.  She  waited  some  time  before 
she  attempted  to  carry  out  her  plan.  By  the  time  that  she 
got  ready  to  ask  leave  to  go  the  boys  had  growai  to  be  lads. 
One  day  she  thought  proper  to  ask  Ra-Mborakinda  permis- 
sion to  go  visiting  with  her  son.  Ra-Mborakinda  was  \yill- 
ing,  and  she  commenced  her  preparations. 

And  again  confusion  came  because  of  the  two  lads  refusing 
to  be  separated.  Osongo  refused  to  go  alone.  But  after- 
ward he,  knowing  of  his  mother's  jealous  disposition,  changed 
his  mind,  and  said  to  Obengi,  "No,  I  think  you  better  stay." 
But  Obengi  refused,  saying,  "No,  I  have  to  go  too."  Osongo 
then  told  him  the  true  reason  for  his  objecting.  "  I  said  this 
because  I  know  that  my  mother  is  not  like  yours.     So  please 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  375 

stay;  I  will  be  gone  only  two  days,  and  will  then  come  and 
meet  you."  But  Obengi  insisted,  "If  you  go,  I  go."  And 
Ngwe-nkonde  said,  "Well,  let  it  be  so;  I  will  take  care  of 
you  both." 

So  they  went.  When  they  reached  the  town  of  Ngwe- 
nkonde's  family,  the  people  were  glad  to  see  them.  She 
also  was  apparently  kind  and  attentive  to  the  lads  for  the 
first  two  days.  On  the  third  day  she  began  to  think  the  care 
was  troublesome.  "  These  lads  are  big  enough  to  take  care 
of  themselves  like  men." 

She  did  indeed  feel  kindly  toward  Obengi,  liking  his  looks, 
and  she  said  to  herself,  "  I  think  I  will  try  to  win  his  affec- 
tions from  his  mother  to  myself."  She  tried  to  do  so,  but 
the  lad  was  not  influenced  by  her.  When  she  noticed  that 
he  did  not  seem  to  care  for  her  attentions,  she  was  displeased, 
began  to  hate  him,  and  made  up  her  mind  to  kill  him. 

All  the  days  that  the  lads  were*  there  at  the  town  they 
went  out  on  excursions  to  the  forest,  hunting  animals.  As 
soon  as  they  came  back  they  would  sit  down  together  to  chat 
and  to  eat  sugar-cane  [with  African  children  a  substitute 
for  candy]. 

Ngwe-nkonde  knew  of  this  habit.  After  she  had  decided 
to  kill  Obengi,  on  the  next  day  she  liad  the  sugar-cane 
ready  for  them.  She  rubbed  poison  on  one  of  the  stalks, 
and  arranged  that  that  very  piece  should  be  the  the  first  one 
that  Obengi  would  take.  He  had  taken  only  two  bites,  and 
was  chewing,  when  he  exclaimed,  "Brother,  I  begin  to  feel 
giddy,  and  my  eyes  see  double !  Please  give  me  some  water 
quickly !  "  Water  was  brought  to  him.  He  took  a  little  of 
it.  Others,  spectators,  became  excited,  and  began  to  dash 
water  over  his  face.     But  soon  he  fell  down  dead. 

Then  Ngwe-Nkonde  exclaimed  to  herself,  "  So  I  've  been 
here  only  five  days,  and  now  the  lad  is  dead.  I  don't  care! 
Let  him  die!  " 

By  this  time  Osongo  had  become  greatly  excited,  crying 
out,  and  repeating  over  and  over,  "My  brother!  Oh,  my 
brother!     Oh,  my  same   age!  "     His   mother   said   to   him, 


376  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

"  To-morrow  I  will  have  him  buried,  and  we  will  start  back 
to  our  town."  Osongo  replied  to  her,  "That  shall  not  be. 
He  shall  not  be  buried  here.  We  both  came  together,  and 
though  he  is  dead,  we  both  will  go  back  together."  The 
next  morning  Osongo  said  to  his  mother,  "  I  know  that  you 
are  at  the  bottom  of  this  trouble.  You  know  something  about 
it.  You  brought  him.  And  now  he  is  dead.  I  charge  you 
with  killing  him."  She  only  replied,  "I  know  nothing  of 
that.     We  will  wait,  and  we  shall  know." 

They  began  to  get  ready  for  the  return  journey,  and  some 
of  the  people  said,  "  Let  a  coffin  be  made,  and  the  body  be 
placed  there."  But  Osongo  said,  "No,  I  don't  want  that: 
I  have  a  hammock,  and  he  shall  be  carried  in  it."  So  they 
prepared  the  hammock,  and  placed  in  it  the  dead  body. 

As  to  Ngwe-Nkonde,  Osongo  had  her  arrested,  and  held 
as  a  prisoner,  with  her  hands  tied  behind  her,  and  he  took 
a  long  whip  with  which  to  drive  her.  And  they  started  on 
their  journey. 

On  the  way  Osongo  was  wailing  a  mourning-song,  and 
cursing  his  mother,  and  weeping,  saying,  "  Oh,  we  both  came 
together,  and  he  is  dead!  Oh,  my  brother!  Oh,  my  same 
age !  Obengi  gone !  Osongo  left !  Oh,  the  children  of  one 
father!  Osongo,  who  belongs  to  Ngwe-Nkonde,  left,  and 
Obengi,  who  belongs  to  Ngwe-Vazya,  gone!  "  And  thus 
they  went,  he  repeating  these  impromptu  words  of  his  song, 
and  weeping  as  he  went.  As  they  were  going  thus,  while 
they  were  still  only  half-way  on  their  route,  a  man,  Eseren- 
gila  (tale-bearer),  one  of  his  father's  servants,  was  out  in  the 
forest  hunting.  He  heard  the  song.  Listening,  he  said  to 
himself,  "Those  words!  What  do  they  mean?"  Listening 
still,  he  thought  he  recognized  Osongo's  voice,  and  under- 
stood that  one  was  living  and  the  other  dead. 

So  he  ran  ahead  to  carry  the  news  to  the  town  before  the 
corpse  should  arrive  there.  When  he  reached  the  town,  he 
first  told  his  wife  about  it.  She  advised  him,  "  If  that  is  so, 
don't  go  and  tell  this  bad  news  to  the  king;  a  servant  like 
you  should  not  be  the  bearer  of  ill  news."     But  he  still  said, 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  377 

"No,  but  I  'm  going  to  tell  the  father."  His  wife  insisted, 
"  Do  not  do  it!  With  those  two  beloved  children,  if  the  news 
be  not  true,  the  parents  will  make  trouble  for  you !  "  But 
Eserengila  started  to  tell,  and  by  the  time  he  had  finished  his 
story  the  company  with  the  corpse  were  near  enough  for  the 
people  of  the  town  to  hear  all  the  words  of  Osongo's  song 
of  mourning. 

Obengi's  father  and  mother  were  so  excited  with  grief  that 
their  people  had  to  hold  them  fast  as  if  they  were  prisoners, 
to  prevent  them  injuring  themselves.  The  funeral  company 
all  went  up  to  the  king's  house,  and  laid  down  the  body  of 
his  son;  and  Osongo's  mother,  still  tied,  was  led  into  the 
house. 

The  townspeople  were  all  excited,  shouting  and  weep- 
ing. Some  began  to  give  directions  about  the  making  of  a 
fine  coffin.  But  Osongo  said,  "No,  I  don't  want  him  to  be 
put  into  a  coffin  yet,  because  when  my  brother  was  alive  we 
had  many  confidences  and  secrets,  and  now  that  he  is  dead, 
I  have  somewhat  of  a  work  to  do  before  he  is  buried.  Let 
the  corpse  wait  awhile. "  So  he  asked  them  all  to  leave  the 
corpse  alone  while  he  went  out  of  the  town  for  a  short  time. 

Then  he  went  away  to  the  village  of  Ra-Marange,  and  said 
to  him,  "  I  'm  in  great  trouble,  and  indeed  I  need  your 
help."  The  prophet  replied,  "Child,  I  am  too  old;  I  am 
not  making  medicine  now.  Go  to  Ogula-y'-iraj)azya-vazya, 
and  repeat  your  story  to  him;  he  will  help  you." 

Ra-Marange  showed  him  the  way  to  Ogula-y'-impazya- 
vazya's  place.  He  went,  and  had  not  gone  far  when  he 
found  it.  Going  to  the  magician,  Osongo  said,  "I  'm  in 
trouble,  and  have  come  to  you."  As  soon  as  he  had  said 
this,  Ogula-y'-impazya-vazya  made  his  magic  fire,  and  stepped 
into  it.  Osongo  was  frightened,  thinking,  "I  've  come  to  this 
man,  and  he  is  about  to  kill  himself  for  me";  and  he  ran 
away.  But  he  had  not  gone  far,  when  he  heard  the  magi- 
cian's nkendo  (a  witchcraft  bell)  ringing,  and  his  voice  call- 
ing to  him,  "  If  you  have  come  for  medicine,  come  back ;  but 
if  for  anything  else,  then  run  away."     So  Osongo  returned 


378  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

quickly,  and  found  that  the  old  magician  had  emerged  from 
his  fire  and  was  waiting  for  him.  Osongo  told  his  story  of 
his  brother's  death,  and  said  he  wanted  direction  what  to  do. 
Ogula-y'-impazya-vazya  gave  him  medicine  for  a  certain  pur- 
pose, and  told  him  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it. 

When  Osongo  came  back  with  the  medicine,  he  entered  his 
father's  house,  into  the  room  where  his  brother's  corpse  was 
lying,  and  ordered  every  one  to  leave  him  alone  for  a  while. 
They  all  left  the  room.  He  closed  the  door,  and  following 
the  directions  given  him  by  Ogula-y'-impazya-vazya,  he 
brought  Obengi  to  life  again. 

Now  came  a  question  what  was  to  be  done  with  Ngwe- 
nkonde,  the  attempted  murderess.  It  was  demanded  that 
her  throat  should  be  cut,  and  that  her  body,  weighted  with 
stones,  should  be  flung  into  the  river.  "For,"  said  Osongo, 
"I  will  not  own  such  a  mother;  she  is  very  bad.  Obengi's 
mother  shall  be  my  mother. "  It  was  decided  so.  And  Ra- 
Mborakinda  said  to  Ngwe-vazya,  "  You  step  up  to  the  queen's 
seat  with  your  two  sons  "  (meaning  Osongo  and  Obengi). 

And  Ngwe-vazya  became  head-wife,  and  was  very  kind 
and  attentive  to  both  sons. 

And  the  matter  ended. 

VIII.      JfiKI   AND   HIS    OZAZI. 

Ra-Mborakinda  had  his  town  where  he  lived  with  his  wives, 
his  sons,  his  daughters,  and  his  glory. 

Lord  Mborakinda  had  his  loved  head-wife,  Ngwe-nkonde, 
and  the  unloved  one,  Ngwe-lege.  Both  of  these,  with  other 
of  his  wives,  had  sons  and  daughters.  Ngwe-nkonde's  first 
son  was  Nkombe,  and  she  had  two  others.  Ngwe-lege  also 
had  three  sons,  but  the  eldest  of  these,  Jeki,  w^as  a  thief.  He 
stole  everything  he  came  across,  —  food,  fish,  and  all.  This 
became  so  notorious  that  when  people  saw  him  approach 
their  houses  they  would  begin  to  hide  their  food  and  goods, 
saying,  "There  comes  that  thief!  " 

Jgki's  grandfather,  the  father  of  his  mother,  was  dead. 
One  night,  in  a  dream,  that  grandfather  came  to    him,  and 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  379 

said  to  him,  "J6ki,  my  son,  when  will  you  leave  off  that 
stealing,  and  try  to  work  and  do  other  things  as  others  do? 
To-morrow  morning  come  to  me  early ;  1  have  a  word  to  say 
to  you."  JSki  replied,  "But  where  do  you  live,  and  how 
can  I  know  the  way  to  that  town?"  He  answered,  "You 
just  start  at  your  town  entrance,  and  go  on,  and  you  will  see 
the  way  to  my  place  before  you  reach  it." 

So  the  next  morning  Jeki,  remembering  his  dream,  said  to 
his  mother,  "Please  fix  me  up  some  food."  [He  did  not  tell 
her  that  the  purpose  of  the  food  was  not  simply  for  his  break- 
fast, but  as  an  extra  supply  for  a  journey.]  The  food  that 
was  prepared  for  him  was  five  rolls  made  of  boiled  plantains 
mashed  into  a  kind  of  pudding  called  "nkima,"  and  tied  up 
with  dried  fish.  When  these  were  ready,  he  put  them  inside 
his  travelling-bag.     Then  he  dressed  himself  for  his  journey. 

His  mother  said,  "Where  are  you  going?"  He  evaded, 
and  said,  "I  will  be  back  again."     So  he  Avent  away. 

After  he  had  been  gone  a  little  while,  he  came  to  a  fork 
of  the  road,  and  without  hesitation  his  feet  took  the  one  lead- 
ing to  the  right.  After  going  on  for  a  while  he  met  two 
people  named  Isakiliya,  fighting,  whose  forms  were  like 
sticks.  [These  sticks  were  abambo,  or  ghosts.  In  all  native 
folk-lore,  where  spirits  embody  themselves,  they  take  an  ab- 
surd or  singular  form,  that  they  may  test  the  amiability  or 
severity,  as  the  case  may  be,  of  human  beings  with  whom 
they  may  meet.  They  bless  the  kind,  and  curse  the  unkind.] 
He  went  to  them  to  make  peace,  and  parted  them ;  took  out 
one  of  his  rolls  of  nkima  and  fish,  gave  to  them,  and  passed 
on.  They  thanked  him,  and  gave  him  a  blessing,  "  Peace  be 
on  you,  both  going  and  coming! "  He  went  on  and  on,  and 
then  he  met  two  Antya  (eyes)  fighting.  In  the  same  way  as 
with  the  Isakiliya,  he  went  to  them,  separated  them,  gave 
them  food,  was  blessed,  and  went  on  his  way. 

Again  he  met  in  the  same  way  two  Kumu  (stumps)  fighting, 
and  in  the  same  way  he  interfered  between  them,  made  peace, 
gave  food,  was  blessed,  and  went  on  his  journey.  He  went 
on  and  on,  and  met  with  a  fourth  fight.    This  time  it  was  be- 


380  FETICHISM  IN   WEST   AFRICA 

tween  two  Poti  (heads),  and  in  the  same  way  he  made  peace 
between  them,  gave  a  gift,  was  blessed,  and  went  on. 

He  journeyed  and  journeyed.  And  he  came  to  a  dividing 
of  the  way,  and  was  puzzled  which  to  take.  Suddenly  an  old 
woman  appeared.  He  saluted  her,  "  Mbolo ! "  took  out  his  last 
roll  of  nkima,  and  gave  it  to  her.  The  old  woman  thanked 
him,  and  asked  him,  "Where  are  you  going?"  He  replied, 
"  I  'm  on  my  way  to  an  old  man,  but  am  a  little  uncertain  as 
to  my  way."  She  said,  "Oh,  joy!  I  know  him.  I  know 
the  way.  His  name  is  Re-ve-nla-ga-li."  She  showed  him 
the  way,  pronounced  a  blessing  on  him,  and  he  passed  on. 
He  had  not  gone  much  farther  when  he  came  to  the  place. 

When  the  old  grandfather  saw  him,  he  greeted  him,  "  Have 
you  come,  son?"     He  answered,  "Yes." 

"Well,"  said  the  grandfather,  "I  just  live  here  by  myself, 
and  do  my  work  myself."  And  the  old  man  made  food  for 
him.  Then  next  day  this  grandfather  began  to  have  a  talk 
with  J  Ski.  He  rebuked  him  for  his  habit  of  stealing.  Jeki 
replied,  "  But,  grandfather,  what  can  I  do  ?  I  have  no  work 
nor  any  money.  Even  if  I  try  to  leave  off  stealing,  I  cannot. 
I  do  not  know  what  medicine  will  cause  me  to  leave  it  off. " 
Then  said  the  grandfather,  "Well,  child,  I  will  make  the 
medicine  for  you  before  you  go  back  to  your  mother."  So 
Jeki  remained  a  few  days  with  his  grandfather,  and  then 
said,  "I  wish  to  go  back."  The  grandfather  said,  "Yes, 
but  I  have  some  little  work  for  you  to  do  before  you  leave." 
So  Jeki  said,  "Good!  let  me  have  the  work." 

The  grandfather  gave  him  an  axe,  and  told  him  to  go  and 
cut  firewood  sufficient  to  fill  the  small  woodshed.  Jeki  .did 
so,  filling  the  shed  in  that  one  day.  The  regular  occupa- 
tion of  the  old  man  was  the  twisting  of  ropes  for  the  lines 
of  seines.  So  the  next  day  he  told  Jeki  to  go  and  get  the 
inner  barks,  whose  fibre  was  used  in  his  rope-making.  Jeki 
went  to  the  forest,  gathered  this  material,  and  returned  with 
it  to  the  old  man. 

The  next  day  the  grandfather  said  to  Jeki,  "Now  I  am 
ready  to  start  you  off  on  your  journey. "    And  he  added,  "  As 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  381 

you  gave  as  reasons  for  stealing  that  you  had  neither  money 
nor  the  means  of  getting  it,  I  will  provide  that. "  Then  the 
old  man  called  him,  took  him  to  a  brook-side,  and  reminded 
him  that  he  had  promised  that  he  could  make  a  medicine  to 
cure  him  of  his  desire  to  steal. 

The  grandfather  began  to  cut  open  Jeki's  chest,  and  took 
out  his  heart,  washed  it  all  clean,  and  put  it  back  again. 
Then  they  went  back  to  the  grandfather's  house.  There  he 
gave  Jeki  an  ozazi  (wooden  pestle),  and  said,  "Now,  son, 
take  this.  This  is  your  wealth.  Everything  that  you  wish, 
this  will  bring  to  you.  Hold  it  up,  express  your  wish,  and 
you  will  get  it.  But  there  is  one  orunda  (taboo)  connected 
with  it:  no  one  must  pronounce  the  word  'salt'  in  your 
hearing.  You  may  see  and  use  salt,  but  may  not  speak  its 
name  nor  hear  it  spoken,  for  if  you  do  things  will  turn  out 
bad  for  you."  "But,"  the  old  man  added,  "if  that  happens, 
I  will  now  tell  you  what  to  do."  And  he  revealed  to  him  a 
secret,  and  gave  him  full  directions.  When  the  grandfather 
had  finished,  he  led  him  a  short  distance  on  the  way,  and 
returned  to  his  house.  He  had  not  prepared  any  food  for 
Jeki  for  the  journey,  for  he  with  the  ozazi  would  himself 
be  able  to  supply  all  his  own  wishes. 

Jeki  goes  on  and  on,  and  then  exclaims  doubtfully,  "  Ah, 
only  this  oz§,zi  is  to  furnish  me  with  everything!  I  'm  get- 
ting hungry;  so,  soon  I  '11  try  its  power."  He  went  on  a  little 
farther,  and  then  decided  that  he  would  try  whether  he  could 
get  anything  by  means  of  the  ozazi.  So  he  held  it  up,  and 
said,  "  I  wish  a  table  of  food  to  be  spread  for  me,  with  two 
white  men  to  eat  with  me."  Instantly  there  was  seen  a  tent, 
and  table  covered  with  food,  and  two  white  men  sitting.  He 
sat  down  with  these  two  companions.  After  they  had  eaten, 
he  spoke  to  the  ozazi  to  cause  the  tent  and  its  contents  to 
disappear.  They  did  so.  This  proved  for  him  the  power  of 
his  ozazi,  and  he  was  glad,  and  went  on  his  way  satisfied. 

Finally  he  reached  his  father's  town,  whose  people  saw  him 
coming,  but  gave  him  no  welcome,  except  his  mother,  who 
was  glad  to  see  him.     But  most   of   the  people   only  said, 


382  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

"There!  there  is  that  thief  coming  again.  We  must  begin 
to  hide  our  things.  After  Jeki's  arrival,  in  a  few  days,  the 
townspeople  noticed  a  change  in  him,  and  inquired  of  each 
other,  "  Has  he  been  stealing,  or  has  he  really  changed  ?  " 
for  shortly  after  his  return  he  had  told  his  mother  and 
brothers  all  the  news,  and  had  warned  the  people  of 
the  town  about  the  orunda  of  "salt."  In  the  course  of  a 
few  days  Jeki  did  many  wonderful  things  with  his  ozazi. 
He  wished  for  nice  little  premises  of  his  own  with  houses 
and  conveniences,  near  his  father's  town,  supplied  with  ser- 
vants and  clothing  and  furniture.  These  appeared.  Soon, 
by  the  wealth  that  he  possessed,  he  became  master  of  the 
town,  and  ruled  over  the  other  children  of  his  father.  He 
obtained  from  that  same  ozazi,  created  by  its  power,  two 
wives,  —  Ngwanga  and  Ilambe,  who  were  loving  and  obedi- 
ent. He  also  bought  three  other  wives  from  the  village,  who 
were  like  servants  to  the  two  chief  ones.  He  confided  his 
plans  and  everything  to  the  two  favored  ones  who  had  come 
out  of  the  ozazi. 

In  the  course  of  time  he  thought  he  would  display  his 
power  before  the  people,  and  for  their  benefit,  by  causing 
ships  to  come  with  wealth.  So  he  held  up  the  oz9,zi,  and 
said,   "  I  want  to  see  a  ship  come  full  of  merchandise !  " 

Presently  the  townspeople  began  to  shout,  "A  ship!  a 
ship!  "  It  anchored.  Jeki  called  his  own  brothers  and  half- 
brothers,  and  directed,  "  You  all  get  ready  and  go  out  to  the 
ship,  and  tell  the  captain  that  I  will  follow  you."  They 
made  ready,  and  went  on  board,  and  asked,  "  What  goods 
have  you  brought?"  The  captain  told  them,  "Mostly  cloth, 
and  a  few  other  things."  They  informed  him,  "Soon  the 
ehiei  of  the  town  will  corae."  And  they  returned  ashore, 
and  reported  to  Jeki  what  was  on  board-  He  made  himself 
ready  and  went,  leaving  word  for  them  to  follow  soon  and 
discharge  the  cargo.  The  ship  lay  there  a  few  days,  and 
then  sailed  away.  Then  Jeki  divided  the  goods  among  his 
brothers  and  parents,  keeping  only  a  small  share  for  himself. 

Thus  it  went  on;  every  few  months  Jeki  ordering  a  ship 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  383 

to  come  with  goods.  As  usual,  he  would  send  his  brothers 
first,  they  would  bring  a  report,  and  then  he  would  go  on 
board.  Sometimes  he  would  eat  with  the  ship's  company, 
sometimes  he  would  invite  them  ashore  to  eat  in  his  own 
house. 

All  this  time  no  one  had  broken  the  orunda  of  "salt." 
But,  to  prove  things,  JOki  thought  he  would  try  his  half- 
brothers,  and  see  what  were  their  real  feelings  toward  him. 
So  the  next  time  he  caused  ships  to  come  with  a  cargo  of 
salt  only.  At  sight  of  the  ships  there  was  the  usual  shout 
of  "A  ship!  a  ship!  "  The  brothers  went  aboard  as  usual, 
and  found  what  the  cargo  was.  The  half-brothers  returned 
ashore  immediately,  and  began  to  shout  when  they  neared 
Jeki's  house,  "The  ships  are  full  of  salt!"  He  heard  the 
word,  and  said  to  his  mother  and  to  his  two  chief  wives, 
"Do  you  hear  that?" 

The  half-brothers  came  close  to  him,  and  exclaimed, 
"Dagula  [Sir],  the  ships  are  loaded  with  nothing  but  salt, 
salt,  salt,  and  the  captain  is  waiting  for  you."  Jeki  asked 
again,  as  if  he  had  not  heard,  "What  is  it  the  captains  have 
brought?"  And  they  said,  "Salt."  So  he  said,  "Let  it  be 
so.  To-day  is  the  day.  Good !  You  go  and  get  ready,  and 
I  will  get  ready,  and  we  shall  all  go  together." 

Then  the  two  chief  wives  looked  very  sorrowful,  for  they 
felt  sure  by  his  look  and  tone  that  something  bad  was  about 
to  happen. 

First  he  ordered  a  bath  to  be  prepared  for  himself.  It  was 
made  ready,  and  he  bathed,  and  went  to  dress  himself  in  tlie 
other  room,  where  his  goods  were  stored.  When  he  had 
entered,  he  called  his  own  two  brothers  and  the  two  wives, 
and  closed  the  door.  He  began  to  examine  a  few  of  his  boxes. 
Opening  a  certain  one,  he  said,  "Of  all  my  wealth,  this  was 
one  of  the  first.  Now  I  am  going  to  die.  But  as  it  is  always 
the  custom,  a  few  days  after  the  funeral,  to  decide  who  shall 
be  the  successor  and  inheritor,  when  that  day  arrives,  come 
and  open  this  particular  box.  Do  not  forget  to  take  the  cloth 
for  covering  the  throne  of  my  successor  from  this  box." 


384  FETICHISM   IN   WEST  AFRICA 

Inside  of  that  box  was  a  small  casket,  holding  a  large  black 
silk  handkerchief.  He  kept  the  secret  received  from  his  grand- 
father, and  did  not  tell  them  what  would  happen  when  they 
should  come  to  get  cloth  from  the  box.  They  understood 
only  that  on  the  throne-day  they  were  to  open  the  big  box  and 
the  little  casket  it  contained.  Then  he  told  them,  "Now 
you  may  go  out."  They  went  out.  Jeki  shut  the  door,  and 
began  to  dress  for  the  ships.  But,  before  dressing,  he  took 
out  the  black  silk  handkerchief  from  the  small  box,  and 
rubbed  it  over  his  entire  body;  and,  carefully  folding  it, 
put  it  back  again  in  the  casket  and  closed  it.  Then  he  was 
ready  to  start.  And  they  all  went  off  to  the  ships,  he  with 
the  ozazi  in  hand.  He,  with  his  own  brothers,  was  in  a  boat 
following  the  boat  of  his  half-brothers. 

He  raised  a  death-song,  "  Ilendo !  Ilendo !  give  me  skill  for 
a  dance !  Ilendo !  Ilendo !  give  me  skill  for  a  play !  "  This 
he  sang  on  the  way,  jumping  from  boat  to  boat.  He  said  he 
would  go  on  board  the  ships,  but  ordered  all  his  brothers  not 
to  come.  His  plan  was  that  they  were  to  be  only  witnesses 
of  his  death.  He  boarded  one  of  the  ships,  and  went  over 
the  deck  singing  and  dancing  with  that  same  Ilendo  song. 
Then  he  jumped  to  the  deck  of  the  next  vessel. 

As  he  did  so,  the  first  one  sank  instantly.  On  the  second 
ship  he  sang  and  danced,  and  jumped  thence  to  the  third,  the 
second  sinking  as  the  first.  On  the  third  ship  he  continued 
the  song  and  dance ;  he  remained  on  it  a  long  while,  for  he 
caused  it  to  sink  slowly.  When  the  water  reached  the  ves- 
sel's deck,  the  brothers  in  the  boats  were  looking  on  with  fear. 
His  own  brothers  began  to  cry,  seeing  the  ship  sinking,  for 
they  knew  that  Jeki  would  die  with  it.  When  it  sank,  the 
boats  went  ashore  wailing,  and  took  the  news  to  the  town. 

But  the  half-brothers  were  not  really  mourning ;  they  were 
planning  the  division  of  Jeki's  property.  All  the  town  held 
the  kwedi  (mourning);  but  after  the  fifth  day  the  half- 
brothers  told  their  father  that  it  was  time  for  the  exaltation 
of  a  successor  to  Jeki,  the  ceremony  of  ampenda  (glories). 
Ngwe-nkonde's  first-born  son,  Nkombe,  said,  "I  will  be  the 


FETICH   IN   FOLK-LORE  385 

first  to  stand  on  the  throne,  and  my  two  brothers  will  be 
next."  Jeki's  two  brothers  refused  to  have  anything  to  say 
about  the  division.  They  determined  they  would  remain 
quiet  and  see  what  would  be  done.  And  the  two  wives 
of  Jeki  said  the  same. 

When  the  half-brothers  came  to  the  house  of  mourning, 
they  began  to  discuss  which  of  these  two  women  they  would 
inherit.  Then  one  of  the  two  wives  said,  "  Oh,  Ngwanga, 
we  must  not  forget  what  Jeki  told  us  about  the  box,  now 
that  the  people  are  fixing  for  the  ampenda!  " 

So  the  two  brothers  of  Jeki  and  the  two  women  went  inside 
the  room,  shut  the  door,  and  began  to  open  the  big  box  to 
take  out  the  little  casket.  By  this  time  the  people  outside 
had  everything  ready  for  the  ceremony  of  the  ampenda.  The 
two  women  now  opened  the  casket,  took  out  the  black  hand- 
kerchief, and  unfolded  it.  And  Jeki  stood  in  the  middle  of 
the  room,  with  his  ozazi  in  his  hand.  Their  surprise  was 
great ;  their  joy  extreme.  In  their  joy  they  ran  to  embrace 
him. 

The  people  outside  were  very  busy  with  their  arrangements. 
Nkombe  already  had  taken  the  throne,  having  painted  his  face 
with  the  little  white  mark  of  rule,  and  given  orders  to  have 
the  signal-drum  beaten;  and  the  crowd  began  to  dance  and 
sing  to  his  praise. 

Jeki  sent  his  youngest  brother,  Oraniga  (last-born),  saying, 
"  Just  go  privately  and  tell  my  father  about  me,  that  I  have 
come  to  life.  And  I  want  him  to  have  the  whole  town  swept, 
and  to  lay  bars  of  iron  along  the  streets  for  me  to  step  on 
from  this  house  to  his.  Say  also  that  Ntyege  (monkey)  must 
continue  his  firing  of  guns  and  cannon ;  then  I  will  come  and 
meet  my  father. " 

Oraniga  did  so ;  and  the  father  said,  "  Good  !  "  and  Oraniga 
returned.  The  father  gave  the  desired  orders  about  the 
sweeping  and  the  iron  bars  and  the  firing  of  cannon;  but 
the  people  at  the  throne-house  did  not  know  of  all  this. 

Then  Jeki  and  his  two  wives  and  two  brothers  dressed 
themselves  finely  to  walk  to  the  father's  house,  and  marched 

25 


386  FETICHISM   IN   WEST   AFRICA 

in  procession  through  the  street.  A  few  of  the  people  saw 
them,  wondered,  and  asked  the  drums  to  stop,  exclaiming, 
"  Where  did  they  come  from  ?  "  The  procession  went  on  to 
the  father's  house,  and  Ntyege  kept  on  with  the  cannon 
firing. 

On  reaching  his  father's  house,  Jeki  told  him  he  had  some- 
thing to  say,  and  the  father  ordered  the  drum  to  cease.  All 
the  people  were  summoned  to  the  father's  house  to  hear 
Jeki's  words.  He  said,  "Father,  I  know  that  I  am  your 
son,  and  Nkombe  is  3'our  son.  You  all  know  what  Nkombe 
has  done,  for  he  was  at  the  bottom  of  this  matter;  so  now 
choose  between  him  and  me.  If  you  love  him  more,  I  will 
go  far  away  and  stay  by  myself;  but  if  you  love  me,  Nkombe 
must  be  removed  from  this  town." 

So  the  father  asked  the  opinion  of  others.  (For  himself, 
he  wanted  to  have  Jeki.)  Nkombe's  own  brothers  said  he 
ought  to  be  killed,  "  for  he  is  not  so  good  to  us  as  Jeki  was. " 
So  they  bound  Nkombe,  and  tied  a  stone  about  his  neck,  and 
drowned  him  in  the  sea. 

And  everything  went  on  well,  Jeki  governing,  and  provid- 
ing for  the  town. 


6L0SSAKY 


A. 

^buna,  aburidance. 

Agaulo,    children  of  mixed   liortal 

and  fairy  birth. 
Akazya,  a  poisonous  tree. 
Aniie,  do  not  know. 
Anlingo,  water. 
Autya  (sinn;.  intyi),  eyes. 
Aiiyambe,  the  Divine  Name. 
Awenae,  yourself. 
Aygnwe,  unseen. 

B. 

Babaka,  consent  thou. 

Behu,  kitchen  garden. 

Benda,  a  kind  of  rat. 

Biaii,  medicine. 

Bobabu,   soft. 

Bohamba,   \ 

Boka,  f  a  certain  medicinal 

Bokadi,       t  tree. 

Bokuda,      ) 

Bolondo,  a  poisonous  tree. 

Bongam,  a  certain  medicinal  tree. 

Botombaka,  passing  away. 

Buhwa,  day. 

Bwanga,  medicine. 

D. 

Dagula,  Mr.,  a  title  of  respect. 
Diba,  marriage. 
Diya,  the  hearth  ;  a  household. 
Diyaka,  to  live. 

E. 

Ebabi,  a  male  love  philtre. 
Egoua,  a  small  antelope  horn. 


Ehongo,  a  cornucopia'. 

Ekongi,  a  guardian-spirit  fetich^ 

EkOpe,  a  girdle. 

Eiamba,  a  Certain  medicinal  tree. 

Elinga,  a  basket. 

Etomba,  tribe. 

Evove,  harlot. 

E\viria,  words  of  hidden  meaning. 

F. 
Fufu,  mashed,  boiled  ripe  plantains. 

G. 

Go,  to,  in,  at. 

Greegree  (gris-gris),  fetich  amulet. 

Gumbo,  okra. 

Gwandere,  a  medicine  for  worms. 


H. 


Haye,  will  not  do. 
Hume,  a  certain  fish. 


Ibambo  (pi.  abambo),  ghosts. 

Ibata,  a  blessing. 

Iga,  the  forest. 

Iguga,  woe. 

Iheli,  a  gazelle. 

Ija'we  (pi.  majawe),  blood  relative. 

Ikaka  (pi.  makaka),  family  name. 

Ilala,  an  arch  ;  a  stairway. 

Ilina  (pi.  malina),  soul. 

Ina,  my  mother. 

Ininla  (pi.  anlinla),  soul. 

Injeuji,  a  certain  leaf ;  fault. 


388 


GLOSSARY 


Isakiliya,  kindling-wood. 
Isiki    (pi.  asiki),  a  dwarf  change- 
ling. 
Itaka,  a  kitchen  hanging-shelf. 
Itala,  a  view. 
Ivaha,  a  wish. 

Ivenda  (pi.  ampenda),  glory. 
lyele,  a  female  love  philtre. 

J. 

Ja,  of. 

Jaka,  to  beget. 

Joba,  the  sun. 

Jomba,  meat  cooked  in  a  bundle  of 

plantain  leaves. 
Juju,  an  amulet. 


Ka,  and  you. 

Kasa,  a  lash. 

Keva,  to  surpass. 

Kilinga,  a  kind  of  bird. 

KimbTva-mbenje,  native  bark-cloth. 

Kna,  a  kind  of  bird. 

Knakna,  a  large  kind  of  bird. 

Koka,  a  large  kind  of  bird. 

Kombo,  a  superstitious  ejaculation. 

Konde,  queen. 

Kota,  a  certain  tree. 

Kulu,  a  kind  of  spirit. 

Kumu,  a  stump. 

Kw^edi,  time  of  mourning. 


Lale,  my  father. 

M. 

Mabili,  an  east-wind  fetich. 

Mba,  not  I. 

Mbenda,  ground-nut. 

Mbi,  I. 

Mbinde,  a  wild  goat. 

Mbolo,  gray  hairs ;  a  salutation. 

Mbulu,  a  wild  dog. 

Mbumbu,  rainbow. 

Mbundu,  poison  ordeal. 


Mb-wa  (pi.  imbwa),  dog. 

Mbw^aye,  a  poison  test. 

Mehole,   ripe  plantains. 

Miba,  water. 

Mie,  me. 

Monda,  witchcraft  medicine. 

Mondi    (pi,    myondi),   a    class    of 

spirits. 
Mpazya,  skin  disease. 
Mulimate,  a  small  horn  for  cupping. 
Musimo,  spirits  of  the  dead. 
Musk-wa,  a  medicinal  brush. 
Mutira,  a  medicinal  stick. 
Mvia,  a  kind  of  bird. 
M'wrana,  a  child. 
Mviranga,  a  plantation. 

N. 
Na,  with. 
Ndabo,  house, 
NdembS,  young. 
Nduma,  a  kind  of  snake. 
Ngalo,  a  guardian- spirit  charm. 
Ng^ma,  a  water  plant. 
NgindS,  gourd  seeds, 
Ng^nde,  moon. 
Ngofu,  an  iron  fetich  bracelet. 
Ngunye,  a  flying-squirrel, 
Nguwu,  hippopotamus, 
Ng'we,  mother. 
Njabi,  a  wild  oily  fruit, 
Nj6ga,  leopard. 
Nkaia,  a  large  snail. 
Nk^njS,  a  marriage  dance. 
Nkendo,  a  magician's  bell. 
Nkinda  (pi.  sinkinda),  a  class  of 

spirits. 
Nsana,  Sunday. 
Nsinsim,  a  shadow, 
Ntori,  a  large  forest  rat, 
NtySgS,  a  monkey. 
Nungwa,  open  thou, 
Nunja,  shut  thou. 
Nyamba,    a   scarf   slung   over    the 

right  shoulder,  in  which  to  carry  a 

babe. 
Nyemba,  witchcraft. 
Nyolo,  body. 


GLOSSARY 


389 


O. 

Odika,  kernel  of  the  wild  mango. 

Oganga,  doctor. 

OgSndcL,  a  journey. 

Ogw^^rina,  rear  of  a  house. 

Okove,  a  powerful  fetich. 

Okume,  African  mahogany  tree. 

Okundu,  a  kind  of  fetich  for  trading. 

Oiaga  (pi.  iiagft),  a  class  of  spirits. 

Olako,  a  camping  place. 

Ombwiri  (pi.  a^wiri),  a  class  of 
spirits. 

Ompunga,  wind. 

Orala,  a  hanging  shelf  over  a  fire- 
place. 

Oraniga,  last-born. 

OriLwo,  insult. 

OrSga,  the  Njembe  secret  society 
drum. 

Oruuda,  a  prohibition;  taboo. 

Osgnge,  a  cleared  place  in  the 
forest. 

Ovavi  (pi.  ivftvi),  messenger. 

Owavi  (pi.  sijavi),  a  leaf . 

OzySzi,  a  pestle. 

Ozyoto,  a  cornucopia. 


P. 


Paia,  my  father. 
Pavo,  a  knife. 
PSkS,  ever. 


R. 


Rera,  my  father. 


s. 


Saba,     ) 

Sabali,  \ 
Sale,  hail 


an  oath. 


T. 


Tamba,  the  womb. 
Tube,  a  certain  leaf. 
Tuwaka,  bless ;  spit 

u. 

Udinge,  a  great  person. 

Ukuku      (pi.      mekuku),     spirit; 

secret  society. 
Uk'vyala,  a  machete. 
Untyanya,  a  medicinal  bark. 
Unyongo,  a  medicinal  tree. 
Upuma,  a  period  of  six  months. 
Utodu,  old. 
Uvengwa,  a  phantom. 


V. 


Veya,  fire. 


Yftginla,  imperative,  hear  thou. 
Y^k^,  a  family  fetich. 


Date  Due 


MAY  1  1  '61 


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